A Breath Of Fresh Air
by literallyshutup
Summary: When Sasuke and Neji get removed from their plush, over-privileged life style and have to live at a farm for the summer they think that nothing could go right. Then they meet Tenten and Sakura and their whole lives are flipped upside down.
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**Here's ANOTHER new story that I will probably never update. Especially since I just started high school and it's overwhelming. Academic wise. But i'll get over it.**

**For me, this is extremely long. I never write this much. And chapters from now on probably won't be this long. But I'll try! Anyways, the summary doesn't really tell you much but the first chapter tells you pretty much everything. That's why it's so long. o.O ahahahaha. AND I'M SORRY IF SOMEONE WROTE A STORY WITH THE SAME PLOT, I DIDN'T STEAL IT FROM ANYONE. I PROMISE. **

**Disclaimer: I don't, nor will I ever, own anything in this story besides the plot.**

**Enjoy, pl0x. 8D**

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I.**

11:42

Blinding strobe lights flashed repeatedly in time with the music blasting from over sized speakers. Fog snaked around the ankles of dancing delinquents. The upbeat, too-loud song made the floor pulse beneath his feet and thankfully prevented him from hearing anything but that.

The obviously under-aged girl slithering shamelessly up and down his body could not manage to whore herself all over him and keep her mouth shut at the same time. Such a turn off. His game was really off tonight.

Just as he laid a hand on the girl's shoulder she made a move that prevented his previous plans of ditching the annoying red head. She knocked his hand off her shoulder only to place both of her hands on his shoulders. He opened his mouth to protest but she was already lifting herself up to wrap her legs around his waist. He stumbled back, caught off guard. He couldn't stop until he reached a wall. It was a dark corner where the sound from the loud dance-floor was dulled and there wasn't anyone for another ten feet.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Said person really looked at the abrasive girl for the first time. She had an unnatural red colored hair that was only brushed on one side. Her eyes, that held a crazy and a tad scary expression, looked at him through brown, oval-shaped glasses. Another thing he noticed was that she was a lot heavier than she looked.

He stopped his musings about her appearance and thought for a second. Wait, he thought, how the hell does she know my name. She does look kind of familiar. Maybe she's that girl in my Chemistry class that answers every single question. But why, in God's name, would a braniac like her be in a place like this? Maybe it's not even her. Maybe she's just some insane stalker. He decided to respond. She looked like she was waiting for something.

"Who are you?" came Sasuke's brilliant response. He never really did have any patience for fan girls. And normally he would have pried the bitch off and gotten a drink - which he really needed right about now. But it wasn't often that a girl he'd never even seen somewhere before know his full name.

She gave him a hurt look which changed into what he guessed was supposed to be seductive. "Oh, Sasuke, baby. Don't joke around like that," She giggled.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you want from me. So if you would kindly _get the fuck off_ that would be awesome."

Anger flashed in her eyes. Next thing he knew The Crazy Bitch-his official name for her-was eating his face off. He tried screaming at her through the slobbery lip rape but the muffled protests were in vain. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and tried to yank her off. TCB moaned into his mouth and started tugging on his own navy locks. That is so not what he was going for.

TCB tilted her head to deepen the not-really kiss. That's when, through the mass of constantly moving bodies, he saw a cool, calculating eyes examining the situation. Neji Hyuga, Sasuke's eternal rival, was lounging on a plush red couch, his feet propped on a black table in front of him. He was sipping on a glass that contained an amber liquid. His arm was around a girl that was seated next to him. She was kissing his neck.

Envy and humiliation flashed through him. Sasuke would kill to be in Hyuga's spot right now. With a good drink and a sane woman. Instead he was too sober for his liking with an insane girl who was also stronger than she looked. And the worst part was that the one person he hated the most was witnessing it. All he wanted right now was to kill this girl. And he never had violent feelings towards a girl before. But this fucking girl…

Hyuga whispered something in the girl's ear and Sasuke watched as she stood up and disappeared into the massive throng of sweaty dancers. The last thing Sasuke saw was Neji standing up before TCB started grinding into him in time with the music. He arched into the wall, trying to create distance between their bodies.

"This is pretty pathetic. Even for you, Uchiha," A voice that was like nails on a chalkboard spoke. "Can't even handle one fan girl." Suddenly there were no legs locked around him with a vice grip and he could breathe through his mouth. Sasuke glanced to his left to see Hyuga holding the girl by her hair, his arm completely outstretched as if she had a disease. She was on her knees clawing at his hand and shouting.

"Hyuga," Sasuke growled, his fists clenching. White hot anger coursed through him briefly.

Neji smirked and dropped the girl. He turned his head to look at her with all traces of amusement gone. His eyes void of any kind of emotion. The infamous ice cube. "Leave," He instructed the girl. She scrambled away looking like quite the pathetic bug.

"You have no respect for girls," Sasuke mused aloud; all of his anger gone as quickly as it had come. He was left with mild annoyance by the other boy's presence.

"And you do?" Neji retorted, raising a skeptical eyebrow at him. Sasuke was well aware what Neji was referring to. So, Sasuke likes girls and sex. Maybe a little too much. But what straight/sane guy doesn't? Nothing wrong with that. Unless you're a human ice cube whose sole purpose in life is to torture innocent bystanders and push down little kids. Neji Hyuga is some kind of demon. Maybe he's actually the devil and he's just hiding his horns under all of that girly hair.

The devil himself cleared his throat awkwardly and turned to leave without another word. Sasuke looked around. This place was usually his favorite place to be but suddenly he felt suffocated and exhausted. He followed Hyuga's example and left without a backwards glance.

11:47 A.M. Three days later.

"I'm home!" Sasuke's voice echoed in his large entrance hall. "Anybody he-ahhh!" Sasuke groaned, sitting up. At his feet were three black suitcases and one navy duffle bag. So that's what he tripped on. Wait- these her his.

He kneeled in front of the luggage and opened one of the suitcases. Shifting through the t-shirts he realized they were also his. In the next suitcase, his boxers and pants. The next held his shoes and pajamas that he never wore. Sleeping half-naked was much better. With an un-easy feeling roiling in his stomach he unzipped the duffel bag slowly, afraid to see more of his belongings that would surely be inside. He looked inside to see various toiletries like his cinnamon toothpaste, navy toothbrush, favorite shampoo and his special razor. The summer reading books that were assigned at the end of the year were also there.

Sasuke sat back on his haunches and glared at his belongings. He couldn't be more bewildered. The only explanation that came to his mind was military camp. Like the one his older brother Itachi got sent to last summer when he got out of control. But at least Sasuke didn't do hardcore drugs(a little pot never hurt anyone) and prowl the streets at night with a gang that called themselves the Akatsuki. Nope, Sasuke as nowhere near as screwed up as Itachi was. So, where the hell is he going and what the fuck did he do?

"Oh, Sasuke," Said teenager looked up to see his mom in the doorway," You're home." He stood up to face his mom. She backed up a little at the sudden movement. The wary look in her eyes shocked Sasuke. Was his own mother afraid of him? He studied her face a spotted a nasty bruise next to her left eye. His eyes widened.

"Mom, did Dad hit you?" His dad always had always been kind of an asshole. It wouldn't surprise Sasuke. She looked at him with an expression Sasuke couldn't really decipher. Guilt? No. Sad? Maybe. Distressed? Another possibility. When Sasuke unconsciously reached out to touch his mom's face, she flinched. Sasuke dropped his hand to his side. "What happened? What's going?" He couldn't stop spewing questions.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, but I'm sending you away for a while. I just can't handle you anymore," His mom didn't look him in the eye. Instead she went around him, obviously trying to keep as much distance between them as the room allowed. The room that seemed incredibly large 5 minutes ago seemed claustrophobic now. His mom bent to fix the suitcases that Sasuke messed up in his panic.

Sasuke tried to form another question but his mind felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls and his throat was closed up. He stumbled towards the front door, wrenching it open.

"Sasuke, where are you going?" His mother yelled after him.

"I need fresh air," His voice was hoarse. But all he cared about was being able to breathe. He slammed the door behind him.

10:35 A.M. Earlier that day.

The Hyuga dining room was silent with the exception of the sound of clinking glasses and silverware. This was the norm, so Neji wasn't at all bothered by it. He actually preferred it this way. Sometimes he could pretend that he was eating brunch alone in the large dining room instead of surrounded by pricks in pristine formal robes.

Just as Neji was lifting his fork to his mouth his Uncle, Hiashi, spoke.

"Neji, you will not be attending our vacation to Sun with us," He announced. The whole room grew even more quiet, if at all possible.

"So, I get to stay here by myself?" Neji tried to hide his growing smirk, "Yes si-"

"No," Hiashi interrupted, "You will be staying somewhere else." Neji met his uncle's stare with a glare. He was completely suspicious now.

"Then where?" Neji had put his fork down and was now leaning forward, his hands clasped under his chin.

"Manners," Hiashi reminded, signaling the butler standing in the corner of the room. "More tea," The butler bowed and left the room swiftly.

Neji glared at his plate, half-full of food that probably cost more than a middle-class house and took more time to prepare than Hinata took to get ready in the morning. It held no appeal, he discovered. His stomach felt like he ate three bricks and wet cement. Neji felt like that every time he spoke to Hiashi. Glancing at his uncle, he swallowed his pride and obeyed, "May I ask where I will be staying this summer?"

"You may," Hiashi thanked the butler and took his precious time reaching for the tea. When he made a show of sipping it, then throwing his head back to finish it off, Neji had the urge to snatch the cup out of his hand and smash it against his head. "You will be staying somewhere south of Konoha." Neji gaped at the word _south_, but Hiashi continued, "You will be staying with the Haruno family."

"Are you kidding me?" Neji could feel anger building up inside of him, clawing at his throat.

"No, I am most certainly not kidding you. You will only bring the bare necessities and it's-"

"Why?" Neji cut him off. Normally, he wouldn't even think of interrupting his uncle, but since he was already being thoroughly punished by being sent to hick-ville South Konoha, he didn't care.

"I think there's something wrong with you," Hiashi told him bluntly.

_Hey_, Neji thought sarcastically, _please don't spare my feelings_. "What's wrong with me?" He asked instead.

"That isn't important," Hiashi said dismissively," Go pack your bags." Neji rose obediently and started to leave, but Hiashi's voice stopped him at the doorway," Oh-and you might be there for a little longer than the summer so be sure to pack enough," Hiashi smiled at him with a smile that seemed to taunt Neji.

"Yes sir."

12:01

"You know," Itachi began, glancing at his little brother sitting in the passenger seat of his jeep, "I heard the father is fucking insane, the mother is like an over-bearing grandmother, but hey, who knows. It can't be that bad."

Sasuke fixed his brother with a deadpan stare, "Yeah, what could possibly be bad about that? Besides the red necks, crazy parents and living in a dump," Sasuke mused sarcastically, dropping his head against the car window. A hundred different type of trees whizzed by in a green blur while Itachi laughed.

"Hey," he stage whispered, leaning towards Sasuke while keeping his eyes on the road, "I'll let you in on a little secret." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Two daughters, hot as hell."

"Hell's pretty hot," Sasuke commented, finding the Brightside to this punishment.

"Yeah, but they're totally prude," Itachi revealed, laughing. He laughed even harder at his little brother's expression, smacking his hand against the steering wheel.

"Fuck," Sasuke groaned, dropping his head on the headrest and closing his eyes. After a moment of silence, he opened his eyes and lifted his head, looking at his brother. "Why?"

"Huh?" Itachi glanced at Sasuke, startled, "why are they prude? 'Cause of their fucked up 'rents, I gue-"

"No, why am I being shipped out to this hell-hole?" He asked quietly, staring at Itachi with a sudden urgency.

"Oh," Itachi could see Sasuke's genuine confusion out of the corner of his eye, "Do you really not remember?"

"Remember _what_?" Sasuke was getting frustrated, "What the hell happened?"

"Simmer down, bro," Itachi cleared his throat as if he was getting ready to tell a long tale, "I'll tell you, just calm down."

"What're you talking about? I am calm." When Itachi looked at him skeptically, Sasuke settled back in his seat and repeated, "I am calm. Completely."

"Right, well. You know that bruise on mom's face?" Sasuke nodded. "You did that," He paused for dramatic effect and to let it sink in.

"What?" Sasuke's voice sounded hollow and confused.

"To be more elaborative, you got really, really angry for no reason. Mom tried to calm your drunk ass down and you lashed out at her." Itachi looked at Sasuke and saw several emotions flash across his face. "You have anger management problems. Really bad. Whenever you get too angry, you loose control and just snap. Your eyes literally turn red. It's scary, I have to admit. Especially when you wake up and have no memory or recollection of it in the morning. It sucks, I know. Mines gotten better but you're getting worse."

"So, you have it too," Sasuke stated, sounding strongly detached and uninterested. He saw his brother nod in his peripheral vision. "Why does she think shipping me out here will help at all?"

"I really don't know," Itachi scratched the back of his head, messing up his ponytail," To get you away from partying, I guess."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted and decided to stare out the window for the remainder of the care ride so he could soak all of this new information in.

"Itachi interrupted his thoughts to say on late thing, "Maybe something in South Konoha is waiting for you. Something or someone that will change your life forever."

Itachi's words rang in Sasuke's mind while silence enveloped the Uchiha brothers.

1:09 P.M.

"Um, we're almost t-there," Hinata, Neji's cousin stuttered out, breaking the awkward silence. Neji merely grunted in response. "Y-you know, that's why you're being sent here," She told him in a casual tone. She panicked at his questioning stare, "W-well, u-uh, I mean, n-nevermind. Just forget I said anything."

"Elaborate," He commanded, reminding Hinata of her father and his uncle.

"It's just that you're kind of cold, shut off from the world. You always come off as unhappy, depressed even." Hinata was biting her lip. She would have been pushing her fingers together, but she was a good driver with her hands on the wheel. Saying this much went completely against her meek personality.

"What makes you say that?" Neji sounded closed-off again. His curiosity locked somewhere deep inside of him that nobody could access.

Hinata thought for a second. "Your eyes." Neji glanced at her sharply. "it's like there's no life in them. Your eyes, they're just-dead," She sounded strangely sad.

Neji ground his teeth together and narrowed his eyes, scowling. "And how is going here going to help me?"

"Well, I, uh, overheard the elders discussing it. All I heard was why you're going. Then they didn't really mention how it would help. And when they did I didn't really understand. Something about a- HEY!"

Hinata slammed on the brakes making Neji jerk forward, his seat belt choking him. He looked out the wind-shield to see what made his cousin stop and saw a sparkling-clean navy blue jeep. He also notice they were on an un-paved, dirt road, no trees, and another dirt road branching off to the right.

"Wait here, Hinata," Neji slammed shut the silver car door and started towards the jeep. He was suddenly furious. What kind of moron stops in the middle of the road with another car right behind you?

Neji opened his mouth to cuss out the mentally-challenged driver when he reached the car window but the passengers made him pause. "What the-"

"Neji Hyuga!" Itachi smiled, all teeth, at Neji. He seemed delighted, where his little brother looked like he was looking at the murdered of his cat, Sprinkles. Not that Sasuke has a cat named Sprinkles. "Great to see you! You with that fine ass cousin of yours?"

Neji's hand shot out to grab Itachi's collar, bring him close to his face. The older Uchiha, just smirked. "Listen, you piece of fuck, do _not_ talk about my cousin like that. And if you even go near her, I'll hunt you down and castrate you myself."

"Itachi wasn't fazed. "Touchy, touchy. Playing the big-brother role? How cute."

Neji shoved him back, releasing his collar. "Whatever- why are you here?"

"We should ask you the same thing," Itachi leaned closer to Neji as if he was going to tell him a secret. "Sasuke here has been a bad boy so we're taking him to the Haruno family for a breathe of fre-"

Neji wasn't listening anymore. He felt like he was going to throw up. "You-you're going to the Haruno's?" Neji clutched the side of the jeep, trying to stay under control.

"No, we're just taking a brother bonding drive an hour away from our house," Sasuke remarked.

"You're staying there too?" He repeated again, ignoring Sasuke's sarcastic remark.

"For fuck's sake, how many-" Itachi cut off his little brother.

"Too?" Itachi half-grinned, " And, so, the plot thickens." Sasuke shot his brother a look that was mixed with astonishment and exasperation.

"Yes, too. I'm going, too." Neji wanted to pull Hinata out of her precious mustang, burn ass back to the Hyuga mansion and strangle that insane old uncle. Why hadn't he told him that the Uchiha pest was going to be there too? He was going to spend two-maybe more-months with the one person he hated most. Awesome.

"Well, this was fun but we have a family of hicks awaiting our arrival. So if you would kindly remove your hands from my vehicle, we will see you and your fine ass cousin in a few," Itachi winked at Neji, which he found kind of creepy, before turning onto the road that branched to the right- and speeding off.

Back in Hinata's car, she didn't ask any questions, thankfully. She knew when to be quiet and when to speak.

"That was Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha," Neji spoke up as Hinata followed the jeep down the dirt road that seemed to stretch on forever. She nodded thoughtfully, keeping her eyes glued to the road. Being super cautious due to the previous incident, Neji guessed. "Itachi – he called you 'my fine ass cousin'."

"Really?" a deep red blush overtook Hinata's face and she unconsciously sped up.

"Twice," Neji said, nodding and studying her reaction. The car stopped and Hinata announced their arrival. Neji got out of the car to get a better look.

On the right was a large picturesque sunflower field with a wooden fence bordering it and a scarecrow with hay falling out was rooted in the center of it. It's arm was raised as if welcoming Neji. Creepy. To the left was an apple tree orchard also encased in a wooden fence that could use some refurbishing. In the middle was a fairly large house. It looked around three stories including the basement. It was a pale yellow with chipping paint and a classic wrap-around porch. The look was completed with a white porch swing.

"Quaint," Neji commented, noticing Sasuke in front of them, pulling out his bags. Itachi was leaning against his car watching him. He could hear their argument from his spot.

"How about a little help, you lazy shit!"

"Independence, my dear brother."

"Independence, my ass. You just don't feel like doing anything."

"Watch your mouth, troublemaker."

"Oh, do not even give me that-"

Neji tuned them out and turned towards the trunk. Hinata was already there pulling out his luggage. He plucked the suitcase out of her hands and set it down on the ground. He finished and turned towards her. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Good luck, Neji," Hinata smiled and turned to go but Neji caught her arm and turn her around.

"What were you going to say before we almost hit Itachi's car?" Something about a…?" He trailed off, waiting for her to finish.

"A girl. Something about a girl," Something about what Hinata revealed to Neji seemed anti-climatic. But he nodded and followed her to the front of the car, dragging his belongings with him. She put the key against the key hole of the door.

"Ow, ow, Hot Hinata Hyuga," Itachi shouted, his brother sitting on a suitcase watching the scene from a safe distance. "Babe, you just have to give ma call!"

Hinata dropped her keys from nervousness and bent to pick them up. "That's right, bend over just form me, sweet cheeks!" She straightened up and turned to face the older Uchiha, her face on fire.

"I'm sorry, but I already have a boyfriend!" She shouted back. Finally getting her car door opened, she sat inside and slammed it shut. She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white, practically hyperventilating.

"Oh, come on, ba-" Itachi took one look at Neji's murderous glare, hopped in his car, and sped off without another word to his brother. Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned his bored stare to the house in front of him.

Neji looked at his cousin again. "Speaking of, that Uzumaki kid hasn't tried anything, right?"

"Huh-oh! No, nonononononononono," Hinata started the car, still chanting denials. She hurriedly backed up and drove off, picking up dust.

Neji had the urge to run after the familiar silver mustang leaving him behind.

"What's all the shouting about?" The sound of a screen-door banging followed the voice.

On the front porch stood a girl. A girl with pink hair. That's the first thing Neji saw. She had her hair tied into one braid that rested on her shoulder and was wearing a fairly modest dress. She was wiping her hands on an apron. Movement from the left side of the house caught Neji's eyes. Sasuke gave a some-what girl shriek and fell of his suitcase. The movement was a person. A boy. He had on a hat and Neji could see brown hair poking out of it. He had his head bent, disguising his face. He had on a baggy plaid shirt, buttoned all the way up and ill-fitting jeans splattered and torn tucked into well-worn hiking boots. Neji guessed the axe in his hand, propped on his shoulder is what had startled Sasuke.

The girl on the porch, Sasuke and Neji, watched the axe-boy make his way over to Sasuke. The girl with what seemed like amusement. Sasuke with apprehension. And Neji with bemused interest.

The boy stopped in front of Sasuke. He swung his axe down – digging it into the ground. Neji almost laughed at Sasuke's expression. The boy kicked over of Sasuke's suitcases, put his boot clad foot on it and reached for his hat. What happened next probably changed Neji forever, even if he didn't realize it.

The boy pulled the hat off. Brown locks rippled and cascaded as the person shook their hair out. Large, hazel eyes with full eyelashes stared at Neji, sparkling.

And when she spoke all of his previous assumptions of her being male were erased. With a dazzling grin she chimed, "Welcome to the Haruno farm, boys."

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**Awful? Good? Amazing? The worst? The best? REVIEW. TELL ME.**

**Okay, thanks, bye, love you. AU REVOIR. x33333 (that's a heart.)**


	2. 1:2

**Holy crap! Hey guys. I know it's been roughly five months or so since I updated, but I warned you that I would never update. Actually, in all honesty, I was going to give up fanfiction forever but recently I got addicted to dragon ball z/gt fanfiction and I happened to read through some of my stories and realized that this was worth continuing. All day at school ideas bled from me like a head wound and I just couldn't contain them. So here I am, updating. **

**This chapter is short compared to the first one, I know. It's a sort of filler/motivator for me to update/introduction and setting up for the plot kind of thing. It's not my best chapter and my writing skills are definitely rusty since I haven't done any kind of creative writing since August, but I hope this tides you over until I find the motivation to update again. **

**Ahhhhhhauihfdv, I'm so excited and proud of myself for actually updating. Hahaha, it never happens (as you can see.)**

**Alright, hopefully you'll enjoy.**

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II.**

"Oh!" The pink-haired girl suddenly exclaimed, "You must be the trouble-makers that are staying here for the summer!" Sasuke and Neji raised their eyebrows at 'trouble-makers'. The girl cast a quick glance over her shoulder before starting down the steps barefoot. Whisking past the brunette who was still grinning hugely, she came to a halt in front of Sasuke. He looked a t her with a blank face as he discreetly studied her appearance.

She was a head shorter than the bitch with the axe who scared him shitless. The sunlight cast a yellow halo around her bubblegum pink hair. Her sea green eyes danced with pleasant amusement and something deeper that Sasuke couldn't place. The light blue and white dress she was wearing came down to her knees and had short fluttery sleeves that caressed her bare arms. She was surprisingly pale for someone who lived on a farm. Sasuke guessed that she was more of the housewife type. He also noted that she had a naturally thing physique and small chest. An inaudible, disappointed sigh escaped his lips as he studied her chest, or lack there of. Her hands, which were clasped in front of her, started fidgeting as he scrutinized her.

Sasuke's gaze drifted to her rose pink lips as she spoke. "I'm Sakura Haruno," She introduced herself with a pleasant smile, "I will not question your purpose of being here and I will try to stay out of your way. But I would like to welcome you-without scarring you for life-" She playfully glared at the taller girl who winked back at her and turned her attention back to the boy in front of her, "to the Haruno farm. We hope that our home and your stay here isn't as awful as you think it will be," She took a short breathe before continuing, " I'm assuming you are Neji Hyuga?" She looked at Sasuke with clueless innocence radiating from her eyes. Neji barked a colorless laugh as Sasuke shot up from his perch on his suitcase.

"Wrong," He growled and watched in satisfaction as the tiny female took a step back, startled at his sudden aggression.

"I am so very sorry, Sasuke Uchiha," She bowed, not daring to look him the eyes. She could have sworn they were glowing red for a split second. Maybe correcting herself would make his demonic aura dissipate a little and that her sister would not interfere and make things inevitably worse.

The girl behind Sakura scoffed and moved closer. "Sakura, stop bowing," Said girl stood up straight but kept her eyes on the ground. The brunette strode forward, invading Sasuke's personal space and ultimately making him extremely uncomfortable and even angrier. Neji stood silently in the background, watching with sudden interest as the taller girl stepped into the drama. She grabbed a hold of Sasuke's collar, bringing him down slightly to her level. "Listen here, _Uchih_a,"She spat, her eyes reflecting her anger, "My sister was nothing but nice to you. Just because she didn't know your name-which is completely beyond her control-does not give you the right to treat her so cruelly. Might I remind you that you are a guest here and have _no _right to talk to her that way. If you have any problems, come see me," She finished, tapping the axe by her side. Neji interpreted that as 'Scare my sister/harm her in any way and I will chop your body into bite-sized pieces.' Neji wouldn't mind seeing that. No, he wouldn't mind at all. He also expected Uchiha to back down after that silent threat, but of course not. He was an Uchiha after all.

Sasuke pried her calloused, tan hands from his shirt and gripped her wrists, hard. He grinned inwardly as she tried not to wince. "Listen here, _bitch_," he mocked her, "I say and do whatever I wanted, whenever I want. So, if you're planning to kick me out because of bad behavior go right fucking ahead. I'll gladly leave this piece of shit hillbilly trash heap and laugh all the way out. Just try me."

Her wounded act was dropped as she twisted her wrists and grabbed a hold of his, releasing he from his grip and startling him at the same time. Still holding his wrists, she walked forward slowly making him step back with every step she took forward. He yelped as he tripped over his suitcase, landing on his butt, for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, and gave her a stare that screamed murder. She leaned over him, "You just made two vital mistakes, Uchiha," She crossed her arms over her chest-which was hidden by the baggy shirt, Neji noted absently- and sneered down at him. "One, don't ever use that language around here. Two, don't even think about trying to touch my sister or me. I can kill you more ways that you can probably count." She straightened up, put her hands on her hips and smiled brightly as if nothing happened. "Just don't make those mistakes gain and your stay here will be lovely!" She exclaimed like a rehearsed hotel clerk.

When the girl turned to Neji he wasn't sure whether he was turned on by the bipolar girl or a little scared. A mix of both, maybe. "I'm Tenten, by the way," She finally revealed. He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light, but it seemed as if her eyes raked over him appreciatively. He almost laughed at the absurdity of a sheltered farm girl who pretends to be a boy checking him out.

Tenten made her way towards Neji with a satisfied look on her face as if she just done with a hard day of work. He raised his eyebrows a little as she bent to pick up his luggage. She cast him another dazzling mile before turning and walking away. When he didn't follow, she stopped and looked back at him. "C'mon, Neji," H e was thankful she used his actual name instead of starting more trouble by purposely calling him Sasuke or used his last name, placing him in the same shit list Uchiha was just obviously place under, "I'll show you your room." He followed her wearily; afraid she might turn around and throw a bitch fit about him stalking her or something. You just never knew with those bipolar people.

Sakura followed Tenten's example and reached for one of Sasuke's suitcases. Tenten stopped her, Sakura I'm sure the man who has no problem hurting a girl can carry his own luggage and find his own room. Come back inside and finish making lunch, okay?" Tenten suggested, nudging her forward gently towards the house. She glanced back at Sasuke who was still sprawled on the ground, and turned back towards the house haughtily.

Sasuke watched as Hyuga, Tenten and Sakura disappeared into the yellow house. He groaned dropping his head on the sandy ground and looked up at the sky. It was a clear blue with absolutely no clouds in sight. Even though it was a beautiful day, Sasuke felt as if there was a storm cloud permanently hanging over his head.

_I wouldn't be surprised if I chopped myself up into a million pieces by the end of the summer_, Sasuke thought to himself as he ran his fingers through the dirt. The mixture of a slight breeze, the sun warming his body and the placid silence of the countryside lulled him to sleep.

* * *

**Okay, so obviously not my best writing ever and kind of boring. But the main characters have met and we can finally get the ball rolling! I promise the next chapter will be much more exciting.**

**By the way, if I can make myself update regularly, the story will most likely be short because I need to get all the ideas out asap and I'm going to try not to stretch out the story because than I lost interest and blah blah blah. You know the rest. AND if I finish this I have an idea for a sequel, sort of. **

**Anyways, review please. n.n**


	3. 1:3

**So, I was planning to update sooner but a lot of personal things got in the way. I really am sorry. I'll try to update a little more now that things are finally getting more interesting and things are actually happening.**

**P.S. Sorry the beginning is a little rusty and I had trouble getting it down on paper. But I'm hoping that it's better towards the middle and end.**

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

III.**

"Sakura, Tenten," a syrupy sweet voice called from a room to Neji's right. A woman no taller than Sakura stepped out into the already cramped hallway that Neji, Sakura and Tenten were occupying. The woman had pink locks that were tied securely in a tight French braid on the back of her head, sea green eyes dulled with age-they must have been as startling as Sakura's when she was younger-and a thin, pale face. There was no doubting that Sakura and this woman were related. Tenten must have gotten her looks from their dad, Neji thought, studying each girl. Their mother finally took notice of the weary male standing behind Tenten. "Oh!" She looked pleasantly surprised, "You must be-"

"Neji Hyuga," He finished for her, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the nearby wall. The woman's gaze raked over him with interest, making Neji squirm self-consciously, a bit creeped out.

"Wow! You are most certainly _not_ what I expected," She grinned, stepping closer to him to get a better look. Neji shot Tenten a panicked look when her mother's hand reached towards Neji's defined biceps.

"Mom," Tenten warned sternly, wriggling her way in between her mother and Neji. He released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in.

This was an extremely uncomfortable situation for Neji. Of course he was used to girls of all ages appreciating his refined and flawless good looks, but he had never really been a victim of a cougar attack. Especially with her two beautiful daughters in the room. _Especially_ with one of them pressed against him, protecting him from her mother. This was ridiculous, Neji concluded.

Gently moving Tenten out of the way he bowed to the older woman. "It was very nice to meet you and I hope I won't be any bother or you or your family during my stay here." When Neji straightened up Tenten immediately tugged him towards the stairs, but he still caught the sparkle of laughter in the mother's eyes.

"Tenten, Sakura, I'm going to pick a few things up from the grocery store," Tenten paused at the foot of the stairs to turn back and look at her mother, her hand still on Neji's sleeve. "Sakura, have lunch ready before you father comes back from his fishing trip, you know how he gets," She looked at her with a warning look as the mood in the room darkened considerably. "And Tenten, just remember to stay out of his way."

"I know," Sakura and Tenten said simultaneously.

Neji looked on in bewilderment as Sakura turned to exchange another meaningful glance between her and her sister, who turned back towards the stairs, her mouth tightening.

"What's going on?" Neji asked as soon as he heard the door shut behind the eccentric mother.

Tenten ignored him and pulled him up the stairs with her. The stairway was just as cramped as the entrance hall and the wooden platforms creaked with every step they took. Something about the house reminded Neji of a haunted mansion, despite it being as tiny as it was. Beyond the top of the staircase was a creepy hallway that seemed to reach on forever. The walls were adorned with atrocious pale green wallpaper that was peeling at the top. There were several identical doors lining the walls. Most of them had empty holes where the doorknobs should have been, Neji noticed. He stepped around Tenten to study the many-framed portraits that also adorned the walls. The first one he saw featured a little girl in a too frilly dress with puffy sleeves. She was sitting on a whicker chair in a professional photographing studio. She smiled a toothy smile that seemed strain. Her eyes looked puffy as if she had just been crying. Neji ignored the other pictures that reflected a happy bubblegum pink haired girl and tried to find more of the other girl. There weren't anymore. There seemed to be an endless amount of pink. Neji turned around to ask Tenten about it, but the words died in his throat. She seemed to be looking through him, her gaze hard and sad.

He stared at her for a long moment, silence stretching on. Suddenly, she blinked and the distance in her eyes disappeared as if an invisible force brought her back down to earth. She looked at him. "What?"

"I, uh, is that you?" Neji stammered, pointing to the picture, "In this picture."

"Yes."

Neji waited for her to elaborate as to why it was the only picture of her, but she said nothing. She just looked at him with an unreadable expression. He voiced his question. "Does it matter?" She snapped, grabbing his luggage and stopping in front of the second door on the right. Neji rushed to open it for her. She laid down all of his belongings on the bed and started unzipping them.

"I can do it myself," He stalled her hands and she looked up at him, startled.

"No, don't worry about it," She smiled, showing pearly whites, "I am your host and this is the least I can do for my guest."

His grip tightened on her wrist and he watched in amusement as her sunny smile turned into her glaring at him through her bangs. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smirking. "Look, if you are so inclined to, I'll let you unpack my bags. But first, answer my question."

"Fine, but go sit down and don't hover," She shook his hand from her wrist and went back to unzipping all of his suitcases.

Neji plopped down in the rocking chair in the corner, propped his elbow on the armrest, and laid his head on his fist. "Okay, tell."

"This is stupid, I don't know why I have to justify the amount of pictures my family has of me as a child. Why do you even care? It isn't important. Maybe I was just an ugly child and I refused to let my parents take any more pictures. Or maybe I have a ton of pictures, I just wouldn't let my parents put them up anywhere. Bet you didn't think of that, now did you?" She ranted nervously, opening his first suitcase. White, pristine undershirts, navy and gray boxer briefs and black gym shorts occupied its space. She started piling them in the white mirror-dresser set against the wall next to the door.

"Just tell me the truth," His baritone voice rang out with total authority as his pearly white eyes watched her every move. She gritted her teeth together and refused to meet his gaze. She was not good with authority.

"You wanna know the truth?" She asked with vehemence, ripping the zipper off his suitcase by accident. She cursed under her breath and shoved it in the closet. She whirled around and stalked back to the bed where the rest of his belongings were. The next suitcase held his t-shirts, dress shirts, and every other top he owned. "The truth is, I was adopted. In case you didn't notice I look nothing like Sakura or her mom. Thank god I don't look anything like her father either." She turned around and began hanging his dress shirts up in the closet. "And as you can imagine, they don't like me as much as Sakura. She is their blood. I'm just some orphan they took in because they couldn't have any more kids. Sakura's father was royally pis-upset that they couldn't have a son to be the heir of his oh-so-great farm. But it's funny because they adopted me and they don't even-" Tenten stopped suddenly as if she realized all what she was saying. She looked up at Neji as she finished putting away the last of his belongings. The only thing left was his bag of toiletries.

Tenten looked at him, expecting some kind of frown or pity in his eyes. But there was nothing. His eyes were like empty shells. Beautiful, but empty. She didn't know if she was thankful for the lack of emotion or kind of hurt by it. Like she just spouted out all of that to a man she had just met who didn't even care.

Neji did care though. She was one of the most interesting girls he had ever met. He wasn't sure how to respond to all of what she had just told him. Of course, he had a million and one questions to ask but from the look of the wall she put up, he wasn't going to get any answered. So, he simply kept his mouth shut and followed her as she took his bag of toiletries into the room on the left.

"This is the bathroom," She told him, flicking on the light switch. It was tiny, barely enough room to fit two people in it. She opened the medicine cabinet, forcing Neji back against the door, closing it. The tiny bathroom now felt suffocating. Tenten pulled out a bottle of pills. She looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

Neji snatched the pills and bag from her. "Now who's invading whose privacy?" He growled, putting his belongings away himself in half the time she did. He turned to exit the bathroom put saw that Tenten was blocking the door. He looked down at her with a nasty glare. He knew he was being hypocritical. He had been grilling her about her secrets before but now that she saw a glimpse of his personal life, he was being an asshole.

"What are those pills for?" Tenten asked calmly, looking at him evenly. He pressed his lips into a thin line, refusing to answer. "They're depression pills, right?" He still didn't answer. "Is that why you're here? Depression?"

"No."

"Then, what? Are you a pill popper or something?" She laughed, not the least bit serious. When he looked away and didn't say anything she stopped laughing. "You _are_?" Her jaw dropped. "No way!" She stepped closer to him. "So, are you some kind of drug addict?" She got closer to his face, trying to get him to look her in the eyes. Suddenly, he whipped around to face her, their noses brushing. The fire in his eyes was the first emotion she had been able to get out of him. To say it didn't turn her on would be a lie.

"You don't know me and you have _no fucking idea_ what you're talking about. So, shut the fuck up," He ground out, stepping closer to her. Her back hit the door but their noses were still touching. If she stuck her chin out just a little more they would have been kissing.

"So, what is it? Tell me," She breathed out, superbly excited by the turn of events. The fire in his eyes melted as they darted back and forth, studying Tenten's hazel ones.

"Maybe it's none of your business," His breathy tone matched hers as his eyelids drooped, letting himself get caught up in their invisible connection.

"Neither was the fact that I'm adopted, but I told you anyway," She retorted, surreptitiously pressing her body closer to his, enjoying the warmth radiating from him.

"I take a little bit more convincing," Neji smirked, placing his lips on hers.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she sliced the fresh pineapple into slivers. The gleaming kitchen knife expertly weaving around the fruit and coming down on the wooden cutting board with a thump of finality. She glanced out the window at the troubled teen passed out on their front yard. The fact that the boy had fallen asleep didn't really bother her; it was just the looming danger that her father would be returning shortly. He wasn't exactly the most accepting man in the world. Or the most rational. If he saw Sasuke just lying there, she wouldn't be surprised if he just kept driving right over him.

She shuddered at the thought of such an appallingly attractive male being nothing but blood and guts on her father's tires. She stopped slicing, put down the knife, and dumped the pineapple slices into the glass bowl of other sliced fruits. Taking two wooden spoons, she began mixing the fruit salad and chewed her lip in thought.

Sakura had two options. One, continue making lunch, let Sasuke die which would mean having to make one less roast beef sandwich. Or two, go save Sasuke even though he was a maniacal jerk. She heaved another sigh, put down the spoons and decided to go with option two. Glancing at the clock hanging above the doorway, she had about five minutes to put her plan into action before the man of the house arrived home. She placed the mixed fruit salad in the middle of the already set dining table, took the plate of roast beef sandwiches from the oven and set them next to the salad, spooned the vegetables onto each plate and rushed outside.

She figured that taking his suitcases inside would be faster, so she grabbed the few bags that he had and rushed inside and up the stairs.

* * *

Tenten gasped at the sound of pounding footsteps and shoved Neji away with all of the self-control and will power she could muster. She plastered an appalled expression on her face and finally looked at Neji.

"How dare you!" She grabbed the doorknob and wrenched it open, "What kind of girl do you think I am?" She glared at him over her shoulder and slammed the door behind her.

Sakura rushed past her, making Tenten's loose hairs dance around her face. Tenten's sister disappeared in the room across from Neji's and reappeared in less than twenty seconds. "Woah, woah, woah," Tenten grabbed onto her shoulder as her sister ran past her again towards the stairs. "Why the rush and didn't I tell you to leave that sleaze to fend for himself?"

"Look, Tenten, I don't have the time for your feminist, macho bull shit," Sakura huffed at Tenten's shocked expression, "Sasuke is still sleeping outside and Dad should be home in-" She paused as they both heard the infamous sound of their father's loud, rusty truck, "Now." The color drained from her face as she practically tripped over herself as she rushed back downstairs.

The door to the bathroom opened and Neji appeared, thick steam swirling around him from the shower, in nothing but a towel draped around his waist, "What's all the commotion about?" He asked her as if his current situation was completely normal. Which it might have been for him, but not for sheltered Tenten.

She turned away quickly, a heated blush creeping it's way up her face. "My dad's home and if you valued your life you would take the fastest shower known to man and be at the dinner table A.S.A.P."

Tenten left without another word and bounded down the stairs after her sister.

* * *

Dinner that night was awkward to say the least. The tension tasted better than the undercooked fish Sakura made. Usually Sakura could make any meal better than a world-renowned chef could, but the day had really taken its toll on her.

Earlier that day, their father had reached Sasuke before they had and it hadn't turned out pretty. After beating him to a bloody pulp for no particular reason, Tenten had spent the afternoon tending to his scars while his eyes flickered red from suppressed anger. Sakura spent the rest of the day setting up Sasuke's room and showing Neji around the farm. After Tenten finished with Sasuke's "battle scars" as he liked to call them, she showed him the ins and outs of their quaint little farm.

Nobody spoke a word all through dinner. Not even to pass the salt or the peas. Sakura's mother was practically twitching from the silence but knew better than to speak when their father was drunk and pissed. Which was just about all the time. Tenten and Sakura kept sharing glances form across the dinner table and surreptitiously kicking each other as a form of communication. Neji and Sasuke were practically catching each other on fire with their heated glaring contest.

"Sakura, be a dear and pass the rolls to Papa," their father cooed at Sakura. Tenten handed Sakura the breadbasket and she handed it to her father with a small smile. He leaned in close to her and grinned. She looked up at him in fear, her eyes wide and shaking. "You look so tired, sweetie," He continued, oblivious to her fear that even Sasuke could feel from his seat next to her, "Sit with me in the living room after dinner and I'll give you a nice back massage." She swallowed and nodded obediently.

Sasuke and Neji exchanged a "what the fuck?" look. Neji also noticed Tenten's hand grip her fork so tight he thought it would snap in half. He reached to place his hand on hers to calm her down but a burly voice froze him in his tracks.

"Don't touch my daughter," Their father ordered him, glaring at Neji through narrowed eyes. Neji looked at the man. He agreed with Tenten's thankfulness for not looking like him. He had a sickening black-gray colored hair and black holes for eyes. His five o' clock shadow completed his nasty, grunge look.

Neji ignored his warning and placed his hand on Tenten's now shaking one. The old man roared and stood up, his chair falling to the ground with a clatter. Sakura and Tenten also shot up. Sakura grabbed at her father trying to calm him down. "Daddy, Daddy! Please! Calm down!" She tugged on his large arm, "Let's go do that massage early, please?" Tenten clenched her fists at this. Neji touched her arm comfortingly when their father's attention shifted from them to Sakura.

"Alright, princess," He nodded his head and they disappeared into the hallway. Tenten let out a shaky breath and turned to her mother who was pushing the food around on her plate like a pouting child.

"May we be excused?" Tenten asked, surprisingly calm. Her mother simply nodded and started gathering the plates.

Tenten motioned for Neji and Sasuke to follow her and left the kitchen. When they reached the foot of the stairs a voice startled them. In the large archway to the living room they spotted Sakura and her father sitting on the couch. His hands were kneading her back and caressing her in a way that wasn't completely appropriate for a father. And judging by the unshed tears in Sakura's eyes it wasn't at all appropriate.

"I'll be coming upstairs in an hour to check if you're all asleep. That'll give you time to clean up for bed."

"Yes, sir," Tenten said, her voice hollow. She turned and practically skipped up the stairs.

* * *

Neji and Sasuke were in the same predicament. Neither of them could sleep. Of course after they showered, brushed their teeth and slipped into their newly cleaned cotton sheets they both felt a little more relaxed. But as soon as the lecherous father came up to check on all of them and were convinced they were sleeping-which none of them were-the lack of comfort came back full force. After the obvious display of inappropriate affection towards Sakura Sasuke and Neji were both feeling extremely uncomfortable and angry and disturbed. They weren't quite sure what to make of it. They didn't want to blow it out of proportion when it might be nothing. They also didn't want to ignore it if it was something.

Neji's thoughts were just lulling him to sleep when he heard a noise coming from the room next to his. If he remembered correctly, that would be Tenten's. He ignored it at first, but when he heard a door open from across the hall he threw his covers off and rushed for the door, his curiosity getting the best of him. He pushed his door open a crack and peered out.

Sakura's tiny silhouette slithered across the hallway and into Tenten's open door. Definitely suspicious, Neji thought. Across the hallway, he saw Sasuke in the same position he was. As they made eye contact they both nodded, silently agreeing to investigate.

They both slipped out of their rooms and tiptoed to Tenten's door. Crouching, they looked through the hole where a doorknob should be.

"God, I am so ready to get out tonight," Sakura said quietly, plopping down on Tenten's bed, watching her choose out an outfit. Her sister simply nodded in agreement, trying not to make too much noise.

Tenten held up two outfits for Sakura's decision. She pointed to the one in her right hand. Neji and Sasuke leaned in as Tenten dropped her sleeping pants to the ground, revealing perfect, slender legs with just enough muscle. She wrenched her old t-shirt over her head exposing her taut stomach and lack of bra. Neji was practically drooling at this unexpected discovery. He had no idea she was hiding all of this perfection under those baggy clothes. She slipped on raggedy, skin-tight, cut-off shorts, an electric blue tube top and a slashed black top that stopped right above her belly button.

"Ready?" Sakura stood up, revealing her outfit. It consisted of a sequined red top that hugged her figure, a matching mini-skirt and matching stilettos. Tenten studied her appearance in her mirror and fluffed her hair. She bent down by her bed and reached under her mattress. She pulled out a small, palm-sized box and a little tube filled with liquid.

"Okay, ready," Tenten shoved the items into her back pocket and made her way to the window. "Did you get the keys?" Sakura nodded and followed her.

Sasuke and Neji watched in disbelief as Tenten swung her leg over the edge of her open window and dropped down. Sakura followed suit.

The boys fumbled to open the door, rushing to the window where the girls had jumped down. They watched as the two girls landed safely on the ground after climbing down the lattice attached to the side of the house. They ran quietly and stealthily across the yard and to their father's beat up truck. Sasuke and Neji looked at each other before breaking out into two identical, mischievous grins.

"Looks like things are finally getting interesting," Sasuke said. Neji could only agree silently as they rushed to find their best clubbing clothes.

* * *

**As you can see, things are getting more dramatic. I'm going to make this a little more dramatic and angsty than my other stories. And the rating may go up to M as the story progresses. Anyways, hoped it was satisfying and worth the wait.**

**Review, please and thank you!**


	4. 1:4

**It hasn't been too long since I've updated, so it isn't as long. I'm sorry. D: I don't know how, but I'll try to make next chapter longer. :s**

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

IV.**

Tenten swung one long, tan leg over her bedroom's window seal.

"Careful," She heard her sister whisper as her feet found the trellis attached to the side of the house.

Tenten skillfully grabbed a hold of the holes covered in vines and began climbing nimbly down. Sakura paused to snatch her red stilettos off of her feet before exiting through the window just as her sister had. A barely audible thud sounded under Tenten's feet as she landed on the grassy dirt that surrounded their house. From above a glint of falling metal caught her eye. A pair of keys that Sakura dropped down to her landed neatly in her raised palm.

As soon as Sakura landed next to her they dashed across the yard, shoes and keys in hand. Tenten pocketed the keys as she reached the back of the red, beat-up truck her father named Betsy. Sakura dumped her spiky heels in the cab part of the truck and flitted to Tenten's side at the rear. They exchanged a glance and braced their hands on the truck before shoving with all of their might. The gravel and dirt under the wheels crackled as the old truck moved forward inch by inch.

Tenten glanced down at Sakura's bare feet, which were freshly painted a pretty pale pink, digging into the dirt, she was thankful she wore her black combat-hiking boots that were scuffed and worn and tied up her tattered, edgy look.

Sakura stopped pushing, panting. She was clearly not built for any kind of manual labor. She was raised as the housewife in training unlike Tenten who was raised as the manual laboring farm boy. "Come on, Sakura, just a little more," Tenten hissed, relaxing her grip on Betsy. Sakura nodded, hoping more than anything that she wouldn't sweat. Definitely wouldn't help her image at this new club.

They hadn't made it ten feet before Tenten thought she saw a flash out of the corner of her eye. Sakura looked up at the sudden lack of help that her sister was providing. She straightened up and placed a hand on Tenten's shoulder.

"Ten?" She asked, worrying creeping into her voice. "What's wrong?" Flashes of an escaped convict popping out of the bushes and chopping their heads off and other various images popped into Sakura's head.

"Huh?" Tenten turned around, finally focusing her attention on Sakura, "Oh, it's nothing." Tenten braced herself on Betsy again, shaking her head as if to rid her of her previous thoughts. "Just thought I saw something," She muttered under her breath.

Just as they began to push again a loud banging sound resonated through the still night air, making Sakura screech, jumping into Tenten's arms. "Shut up, you idiot!" The brunette hissed, dropping the green-eyed screecher on her ass.

"Oww," Sakura moaned, rubbing her bottom and giving her sister a death glare. Tenten simply rolled her eyes in reply. A rustling sound from the sunflower field to their left had Sakura clutching to Tenten's bare leg. "What was that?" She breathed, practically shaking. Tenten jerked her to a standing position.

"I'm sure it was just some kind of animal," She reassured her, "Or something…" Sakura did not appreciate the crappy comfort.

"Hah! Some kind of animal!" Sakura barked, a little too loud. "Yeah, like some kind of man eating wolf or escaped axe murderer!"

"First of all, shut the hell up!" Tenten whispered furiously, "Second, in all of your sixteen-almost seventeen-years of living have you known man eating wolves to roam in our sunflower fields? Or axe murderers?" She gave her a deadpan look, one hand on her hip. The whole skeptical Sakura-you-are-an-idiot routine. The younger girl frowned.

"You never know," She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. The front door banged open with a loud clash.

Before Sakura's heart could even speed up, Tenten was pulling her behind the truck, covering her mouth with her hand. Cold, merciless, utter fear wrapped its clammy claws around her neck. If her heart beat any faster, Sakura was convinced she would die. Well, she would probably die anyway because it was inevitable now that her father would find them. After all of the screaming and loud noises they were bound to be caught. And if that didn't, her heart beating would surely give them away.

_Oh god, oh god, oh god, _Tenten chanted in her head_, please just let him think it was some stray dog or something. Please just do not let him come over to his truck or even notice it out of place._

"Who's out there?" Their father shouted, his voice echoing into the empty sky. Tenten unconsciously tightened her grip on her younger, adoptive sister. She turned her head to the side, glancing in the side mirror and almost gasped. She probably would have if she were Sakura. But she was Tenten and she had more common sense than that. Expecting to see her father prowling around with a baseball bat reflected in the mirror, she some saw something equally as shocking.

Her humble house guests in her own bedroom window. Tenten wanted to laugh at the absurdity of this whole situation. For the first time since Tenten and Sakura started sneaking out, this was the first time they got caught. They expected to get caught one day. But they were hoping it was by their mother or a squirrel. Not by her father and two trouble-making houseguests. And from the looks of the two male teenagers, they knew exactly where her and Sakura were going and planned to join them.

Neji had one leg hanging out of the window, one hand clutching the windowpane with the other on the actual window. Sasuke was poking his head out of the window, his mouth slightly open in shock. They both looked as if they were frozen in fear, which Tenten was thankful for. _If they make one noise…_

"I know you're out there!" Her father bellowed again, knocking his baseball bat against the dirt. "I won't let you fuckers touch my farm!" Tenten let out a slow, steady breath in relief. Her dad thought they were vandals. In her crouching position, Tenten's knees began to ache. She kept her gaze on the mirror as she slid her feet to relieve some of the cramping in her knees. Her boots slid across the gravelly dirt and she lost her balance completely, falling on her bottom and slamming her head against the truck door. It made an audible noise that made Tenten freeze. "Come out, you asswipes!" Her father hollered, making his way over to the truck.

This was it. Tenten and Sakura Haruno were going to die. And they were going to bring two innocent followers with them.

"Oh, stop it, Yagiri," Their mother's sugarcoated voice was like music to their ears. "You're being ridiculous. Just come back to bed." The advancing footsteps halted just steps away from the truck. Tenten thought her lungs would explode from holding her breath.

"No, I know someone is out there!" He retorted.

"Oh, please, it's probably just a squirrel!" Another pair of footsteps.

As luck would have it, a brown, furry squirrel darted from the sunflower field and down the dirt driveway, successfully catching their father's attention. Tenten didn't celebrate just yet, her father could be unwavering as a brick wall. "See? A squirrel."

A pause.

"Alright, alright," Two pair of footsteps retreated back into the house, the door slamming behind them.

One minute.

Three minutes.

It was five minutes before Tenten finally let go of Sakura with shaky hands and let out a shuttering breath. Sakura sat staring into space, her hands by her side, frozen in fear. Tenten waited another five minutes or so before shaking Sakura. Laughing hysterically, but quietly, "Sak, Sak, we didn't die. We didn't die!"

Sakura looked at her before breaking out into a fit of hushed giggles. Their giggles died and they reveled in a minute of silence. "God, I need a drink," Sakura sighed, getting up from the ground. She brushed the dirt off of her skirt and stretched her back. Tenten stood up and stretched her legs. Knowing her father, he was already dead asleep.

"Well, wasn't that fun," A voice broke them from blissful stretching, almost giving them another heart attack. Tenten wasn't as surprised as Sakura, but still startled. Tenten grabbed Neji by the collar.

"What the fuck are you doing?" She spat in his face, shaking him. He raised an eyebrow. That was the first time he heard her cuss. The surprises just came one after another tonight, he thought.

"I could ask you the same," Neji retorted, prying her hands from his white shirt collar. "This is quite the surprise."

"Yeah, we never expected two… sheltered girls like yourselves would be getting into such debauchery," Sasuke smirked at Sakura who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Whatever, _you're_ the reason we almost got killed tonight," Tenten seethed, barely containing herself from clawing their handsome faces' off. They gave her a questioning look.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, clearly puzzled by the accusation, "_You two_ were the ones making enough noise to wake a whole neighborhood."

Sakura and Tenten shared a glance. "If it wasn't you guys and it definitely wasn't us-"

"Except for that last one when Tenten banged her head against the truck," Sakura interrupted gleefully.

"-than who was it?" Tenten asked, purposefully ignoring Sakura's input. The group was quiet, mulling this over. None of them had been making the noise, so that meant one thing.

There was someone else lurking outside too.

* * *

**DUN, DUN, DUN.**

**Intense, eh? Now you see why it's so short. I wasn't going to end it right there but I just had to. Sorry guys. :'D**

**Anywho, review please! **


	5. 1:5

**This is officially my longest chapter! Be happy. I worked on this for four hours straight and I couldn't stop 'cause I was in the ZONE. And I wanted to get this up as fast as possible so there might be some grammatical errors but oh well.**

**ENJOY.**

**P.S. This might be bumped up to M in the future. So get out while you still can.**

* * *

**V.**

"…well, let's go!" Sakura chimed and turned to make her way to Betsy's cab. She didn't make it very far before Tenten grabbed her forearm, stopping her in her tracks. "Whaaaaat, Tenten?" Sakura whined.

"I don't think we should go out tonight," Tenten was surveying the surrounding forest and sunflowers suspiciously.

"Oh, come on!" Sakura snapped, getting in front of her sister's face, "Stop looking around and get in the car."

Neji and Sasuke watched in amusement at the turn of events. Just moments ago Sakura was the one jumping into Tenten's arms in fear and trembling at every whisper of the wind or rustle of the leaves. Now Tenten was getting cold feet and Sakura was _pissed_. A pissed Sakura was never fun, Tenten knew. But she still didn't want to risk going out after everything that had happened.

"Nope, we've had all the fun we need for one night," Tenten shook her head, her loose hair brushing her cheeks. Sakura clenched her fist.

"_Nope_, we haven't," Sakura mocked, "I am going to the Barn, I am going to get drunk out of my mind and I am going to have fun."

"Sakura, don't be ridiculous," Tenten frowned, too frightened to get angry at her sister's party now, pay later attitude.

"_I'm_ being ridiculous? _You're_ being ridiculous!"

"Yeah, right!" Tenten found her fear dissolve a tad, frustration replacing it. "This is the part in horror movies where the slut goes to a party, gets wasted, and has sex with anything that moves. And right when she's about to orgasm-" Tenten paused to make a slicing noise while jerking a thumb across her throat, "She dies. The audience cheers."

"Hah!" Sakura barked, leaning back with her arms across her chest, "And let me guess. You're Miss Chastity who stays at home knitting a sweater but somehow has amazing luck and ends up being the only survivor. Am I right?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Tenten shrugged. Neji snorted.

"That's rich coming from somebody who locked a total stranger in her bathroom and probably raped him."

Tenten made a choking sound and reached to strangle Sakura. "I did not _rape _him!"

Sakura dodged the hands grabbing for her throat and laughed, "Right, you just kissed him."

The blushing brunette stared at her sister with her mouth closing and opening like a fish.

"Don't think you can fool me. How naïve do you think I am?" Sakura frowned, "You came running out of the bathroom looking guilty as hell with a pretty pink blush," She smirked, pinching Tenten's red cheek.

"_He_ kissed _me_!" Tenten finally choked out.

"Nice, dude, you kissed her already?" Sasuke nudged Neji, "It hasn't even been a full day yet." Neji smirked, locking eyes with the blushing and stuttering girl in front of Sakura.

"Shut up, you dickwads!" She seethed, trying to keep her voice an inside voice.

"Dickwads?" Sasuke and Neji being the stoic and manly men they were, disguised their snickers in a coughing fit.

"Whatever, let's just go to bed and forget any of this happened," Tenten sighed, rubbing her throbbing forehead.

"Oh, we're gonna forget about tonight," Sakura grinned, "Just with a little outside help." The mischievous pinkette grabbed the keys and sauntered to the driver's seat. "Sasuke, up front with me. Neji, grab Tenten before she gets any further," Sakura instructed without turning around. Neji looked back, finally taking notice of Tenten tiptoeing away, back towards the house. He strode up behind her.

"Going somewhere?" He whispered in her ear.

"Uh, oh, uh, nope!" She whirled around, laughing, "No where at all!"

"Great, then coming with me will be no problem," He looked at her with a face that told her he obviously didn't think it was great.

"Well, now that you mention it I am kinda tired and-" Neji wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her onto his shoulder, ignoring her protests, "Hey! Put me down!" She whisper-yelled at him, banging her fists on his back.

Neji ignored the girl on his shoulder and made his way to the less than beautiful truck, opened the back door and dumped her onto the brown couch-style back seat. The seats were faded and rough against the exposed skin of her thighs and lower back.

As soon as Tenten landed in the backseat, she scrambled for the door opposite of the one Neji had just closed. Her clumsy hands fumbled on the complicated doorknob and before she could climb out of the door a hand grabbed her boot-clad ankle and started dragging her back in.

Ridiculously enough, Tenten felt as though she was the main character in a horror movie. She knew it was just Neji trying to get her to go to a club that she herself went to twice a week. She wasn't sure if it was instinct to try and get away from the person chasing after her-metaphorically, of course, they weren't actually running-or if she just enjoyed Neji's hands grabbing her and manhandling her. Which was even more ridiculous than pretending to be in a horror movie.

Neji's grip tightened and moved up to grab her heated skin. Tenten kicked out with her boots that were made for kicking perverts' asses, but his grip only tightened again. Neji pulled her into the truck and reached over her to slam the door closed. Tenten absently noted that as soon as both doors were closed the truck started up. Hopefully they were far enough from the house to not be heard. If they were really lucky their dad would be so consumed by sleep an earthquake wouldn't wake him. Which was usually the case.

This was all going through the back of Tenten's mind. What was currently occupying the rest, you ask? She was now flat on her back, Neji hovering above her propping himself up on his hands, one foot on the floor of the truck and the other knee on the seat. Her legs were raised, bent at a ninety-degree angle, on either side of Neji's waist. As much as she wanted to, she didn't dare wrap her legs around him. Oh, how her legs ached to-no, her whole body ached to wrap itself around Neji and get lost in his scent. Strands of silky brown fell like a curtain around Tenten and the smell of fresh cotton and something else-something spicy assaulted her senses.

Never in her life had Tenten been this close to a boy and this affected by him. His scent, his ethereal beauty, his steady confidence, the raw lust in his eyes that mirrored her own.

Wait, what? Raw lust? Where had _that_ come from?

"Get off," Tenten commanded him hoarsely. Either he ignored her or didn't hear her.

"Woah, getting a little steamy back there?" Sakura joked, winking at them through the rearview mirror.

"No!" Tenten shoved Neji off with the most self-control she could muster and sat up as far away from Neji as the back of the truck would allow. She could almost feel the roll of his eyes at her immaturity from here. She kind of wanted to roll her eyes at herself. Why was Neji affecting her like this? Like Sakura said, Tenten wasn't exactly Miss Chastity. But she had boundaries and Neji had crossed them. He didn't do anything particularly harmful, she just wasn't a very touchy-feely type. She had never had a real boyfriend, in her opinion. Sakura had had plenty. Sakura was all about flirting and finding her soul mate. But Tenten was not the hopeless romantic that her sister was. She would love to have a special companion, yes. But every guy never met her standards. Albeit they were impossibly high, she stuck with them. And along with that stubborn mentality, she figured, why waste time on guys who just want to get in her pants? She never had the urge to simply take her clothes off and fuck until she passed out like she wanted to do with Neji. That was all Sakura. Which confused Tenten. She wouldn't want anything to do with men after what her father had done to Sakura.

"We're here!" Sakura yelled, breaking everyone of the silent passengers out of their reveries.

"Finally," Sasuke grumbled, stepping out of the grungy truck. Sakura and Tenten didn't miss the fact that Neji and Sasuke managed to still look like celebrities stepping out of a stretch limo even when stepping out of their father's beat up truck. Sakura stepped daintily out of the driver's seat, her stilettos adorning her feet once more.

The Haruno sisters strode towards the front door with a skip in their step, which Tenten was fighting to hide. She was still partially pouting. Neji and Sasuke studied the building before following them. It was literally a barn. A classic red and white one. It was larger than most and had bright flashing lights pouring out of the open double doors. Bales of hay served as benches for kids with cigarettes. Not very smart, Neji thought. Loud music pounded, the ground under his feet vibrating.

"Tonton!" A husky, but feminine voice bellowed. Neji located the voice to their right. One of the kids who were smoking.

"For fucks sake, Temari," Tenten groaned, pausing in front of the door, "I told you to stop calling me that!"

The girl named Temari had clear, teal blue eyes, sandy hair tied into four spiky ponytails and a wicked grin. She was blessed with natural beauty from head to toe and from the way she held herself, she was well aware.

"Whatever, Ton," She dismissed it with a wave of her hand, "We thought you weren't coming tonight. You should have seen how pouty Kankuro was. Just wait 'til he sees you!"

"Oh," Tenten nodded, looking thoughtful, "Where is he? I'll go say hey."

"He's inside, tell him to bring me-well _hello_ there," Temari's eyes wandered to the handsome men standing behind Tenten and Sakura. "And who are these handsome young men?" She nudged a boy next to her who had black hair pulled into a pineapple shaped ponytail. He currently had a blonde girl in his lap with their faces glued to each other. He didn't react to the small nudge as his hand wandered down the girl's waist. Temari nudged him again and he tore his face away from his girlfriend's and glared at her. Temari handed the boy her cigarette and stood up gracefully.

"Oi, Pig!" Sakura called. The pretty platinum blonde girl, who was now taking a drag from Temari's abandoned cigarette looked up, startled. She grinned at the pinkette running at her. She handed the cigarette back to her boyfriend just before she was lifted from his lap by small, but surprisingly strong arms.

"Hey forehead, haven't seen you in a while!" The blue-eyed blonde pecked each of Sakura's cheeks in friendly affection.

"Oooh, Ino," Sakura looked over Ino's shoulder at the boy who was still seated, finishing off the cigarette, "You and Shikamaru are still together?" Ino's grin widened and she nodded, "Aw, your longest lasting boyfriend. I'm so proud you didn't dump him after the second week!"

"Shut up, Forehead, at least I stick around 'til morning after we fuck!" She flicked her large forehead.

"Are you calling me a slut?" She growled.

"Maybe," Ino challenged.

"Well, as I was saying," Temari focused her attention back on the faces she didn't recognize. "Who are these handsome young men?" She asked with keen interest, studying each of them and standing a little too close for comfort for both of them.

"Oh, yeah," Tenten forgot all about them, "Mister ice cube over there is Neji Hyuga and that emo loser is Sasuke Uchiha. He's alright."

Neji glared at her and Sasuke frowned, leaning back as Temari's face suddenly appeared in front of his.

"Hmmm, both so attractive," She concluded, standing back. "Where did you pick them up? They sure as hell don't look like they could survive on a farm for even a day."

"So many backhanded compliments tonight," Sasuke muttered under his breath, still scowling.

"These spoiled, rich brats got dumped at our farm for the summer because they were considered trouble makers at their homes," Tenten explained vaguely, not really paying attention to the conversation. From the looks of it, Ino would be flying halfway across the world in ten seconds.

"Trouble makers, eh?" Temari grinned again, looking them up and down.

"Shut it, Ino-pig!" Sakura screeched and the people around barely looked up from their conversation as a flurry of blonde and purple flew through the air. Sasuke was looking at Sakura, startled. Neji watched the flying girl with a raised eyebrow. Nobody was paying attention to Temari flirting.

Ino flipped in the air, barely landing on her feet. Her boyfriend looked exceptionally unconcerned as he lounged on the bale of hay, a new cigarette in his lips. The blonde wiped the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth and pounced at her best friend and-landed on her face. Temari and Tenten let out a sputtering shocked laugh. Ino and Sakura's little fights always ended up the same way. Both of them nursing bloody noses over a cold beer. Not tonight, though. Sasuke Uchiha intercepted, pulling Sakura out of the way right before Ino collided with her.

Sakura's shock seeped out of her in less than five seconds and she was shouting death threats again.

"Let me go!" She screamed trying to get out of Sasuke's arms. As much as she struggled, she just couldn't escape. He had an iron grip on her even when she started bashing his head with her fists. "Let me go, let me go, let me-" She went limp in his arms as soon as he jabbed the pressure point in her neck. Everyone gaped at him.

"Annoying," He murmured, ignoring everyone's shocked expressions. Sasuke stared down at the pale, unconscious girl in his arms and threw her on his back. He began walking back towards the place where Sakura had parked the truck.

"Where are you going with my sister, Uchiha?" Tenten shouted after him. Neji grabbed her shoulder before she could run after him.

"I'm taking her back to the truck," He turned around to look at her, his face blank, "Or do you want me to leave her out in the open with no way of protecting her self against the eager hands of drunk teenagers?"

Tenten frowned but relented, turning back to her conversation with Temari and Neji. Well, Neji wasn't really participating in the conversation, more like supervising.

Sasuke reached the truck and propped the sleeping girl against the side of the truck before realizing the doors were locked. Sighing, he turned towards the vulnerable girl who was slowly sliding into a sitting position. Hoisting her up again, he felt for pockets in her skirt, which there were none. Of course, he thought. She just had to be the type of girl to keep everything in her bra. Hesitating only a millisecond, Sasuke reached two fingers down her low-cut, flashy top and plucked the keys out of her shirt.

He wasn't sure if his mind was playing tricks on him, but he was almost positive he heard a breathy moan come from the unaware girl just as his fingers brushed her skin. He shook the thought and opened the backdoor, lifting Sakura in and laying her down on the backseat. Just as he was about to leave her and return to the party he felt a hand grab his wrist. He looked down, startled, at Sakura's hand and sighed for the umpteenth time.

"Fine, I'll stay," He said more to himself, than the girl who couldn't actually hear him, closed the door and sat on the floor next to Sakura's sleeping form.

* * *

Neji and Tenten had finally escaped Temari and disappeared into the Barn. The loud music, blinding lights, dry humping to the sound of the music, heavily intoxicated teenagers, artificial fog snaking around bare ankles. It exactly like the places Neji hung out at before he came here. The only difference was the wooden walls, packed dirt floors covered in hay and the overhang that anyone could access with a ladder, which was placed on the far back wall.

"Peace out, girl scout," Tenten threw up a cheesy peace sign before trying to disappear into the crowd. Neji stopped her by grabbing her elbow.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked her, dragging her closer to him.

"First of all, stop grabbing me whenever I'm trying to walk away," She snapped, having to shout over the loud music, "And second, you're the one who wanted to come so bad. You go have fun. I'm going to do my own thing."

She tried once again to leave Neji and was ultimately unsuccessful. "Don't leave me here."

That surprised her. She turned to look at him, her already large eyes wide. Of course, he was Neji Hyuga so he had managed to say it with a commanding tone but something about the vulnerability in his voice touched her heart.

"Fine, you have two options," Tenten pried his fingers from hers and placed her hands on her hips, "One, wander around here alone or two, come with me and participate in some less than favorable activities."

Neji raised an eyebrow, "Lead the way." Challenge obviously accepted, Tenten thought as chills raced down her spine. His voice did that to her often.

Tenten held her hand out and he grabbed it, tightening his hold as she maneuvered through the crowd of people. They finally came to a stop in front of the ladder that Neji had spotted when they walked in. He could see smoke littering the air mixed with loud stuttering giggles. Tenten snuck a glance at his face to see his face blank, as if he was completely unsurprised. She frowned and took a hold of the ladder and started climbing, making sure to add an extra swing of her hips.

Neji stared up at her perfect legs and her ass that he would love to-he stopped mid thought. Knowing the situation he was getting into, he wanted to be as placid and not horny as possible. Which was a tough situation with the girl above him. He shook his head as if to clear cobwebs gathered in his head and began climbing after her.

He reached the top and spotted Tenten sitting on a bale of hay next to a boy with spiky brown hair who had his hand on her bare thigh, leaning into her and whispering in her ear. She giggled and her eyes met Neji's. She said something into the boy's ear, breaking eye contact with him.

The boy looked up at Neji and grinned, waving him over. Neji, being the rebellious asshole, had the urge to simply turn around and leave. It was fairly obvious that this boy and Tenten were involved. Why should he stick around and be a third-wheel?

"Neji, come on!" She yelled at his turned back. He hesitated but turned back and approached her. She patted the empty space next to her and he dropped down onto it. He finally noticed a number of other average faces. He ignored them and turned to look at Tenten. "Ready?" She asked eagerly, smiling up at him. He shrugged nonchalantly. "Alrighty, then." She looked at Kankuro and nodded. Neji's eyes wandered down to Kankuro's hands and watched him hand Tenten the green and blue bong.

"I'll give you the honors of going first," It was painfully obvious he was hitting on Tenten. Neji couldn't tell if Tenten didn't care or if she really was unaware.

After giving Kankuro a smile, she leaned towards Neji and whispered in his ear, "Have you ever done this before?"

* * *

Sakura's eyes flew open and she shot up, looking around wildly. "Where am I? Where's Ino-pig?"

Sasuke woke up with a start rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Calm down, Sakura. I knocked you out and let you sleep in here."

"Oh, you _let_ me sleep in here. How generous of you," She placed her face right in front of his and stuck her tongue out at him. "Listen, Mister, you do not interrupt Sakura-Ino fighting time, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," He did a lazy salute and propped his face on his hand, watching Sakura. He simply stared at her, making her squirm. She wasn't sure where she should look. If she looked away, he would know she was getting to her. If she looked at him, she would blush. She settled for staring at his lips. Not exactly looking away and not exactly eye contact.

Her plan backfired when she noticed how perfect his lips were. Smooth, perfectly kissable and smirking at her.

He knew. Of course he knew. Sasuke was a womanizer. He knew exactly how to wind a woman around his finger with a flick of his wrist. Sakura didn't mind though. She could play his game. Or she could get straight to the point.

Sasuke watched as Sakura sat up and scoot over making room for him. She gave him sultry smile and patted the space next to her. He liked where this was going.

As soon as Sasuke took a seat next to her, she pounced. Sakura never was one to play with her food.

* * *

"Of course I have," Neji replied in a normal voice, "But I'm going to get a drink first, do you want one?"

Tenten's eyes hardened, losing all of its previous playfulness. She swallowed before saying no. "Why is that?" He challenged, his eyes glinting, "I thought you did all kinds of nasty things. Smoking pot, pop pills, drink alcohol, have sex with our friend Kankuro here." Neji leaned over to pat Kankuro's knee. He looked up startled, not hearing their conversation.

Tenten couldn't hold his gaze. She dumped the bong back in the other boy's lap and got up to leave. When Neji didn't follow her, she glanced back at him. Her eyes were pure, raw fire and ice. Neji figured it was a defense mechanism against the pain he had obviously inflicted.

He spared one last glance at Kankuro who looked at him, bewildered. "Sorry, guess Tenten is sick of your same old bed routine," Neji stood up. Kankuro stood in front of him.

"I don't know what you've heard, but Tenten wouldn't have sex with me if I was the last guy on Earth. I'm well aware of that fact," Neji raised both eyebrows at his brutal honesty, "In fact, I don't think she'd even have sex with _you_."

"Is that a challenge?" He asked in a cool voice.

"Nope, just a simple fact."

Kankuro took his seat and turned to converse with another male to his left, leaving Neji to mull over his words. Shrugging them off, he turned towards Tenten.

"We're leaving," She said before descending down the ladder.

* * *

Their lips connected and Sakura immediately felt a flame flickering at the core of her body. The kiss grew heated as the fire slowly spread over her body. She threw her leg over the other side of his body, straddling him. His hands roamed down her back, to her waist, settling on her hips. The low flicker of a flame burst and consumed her body.

Sakura doubted anybody had ever made her this horny, this fast. Her hands roamed his chest and arms, coming to rest on his face, deepening the already impossibly deep kiss.

* * *

As soon as they got outside Tenten rounded on him, shouting. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She screamed, "How the fucking hell could you make all of those accusations when you know _nothing_ about me?" Her screaming caught peoples' attention. Several seated outside looking for a moment of peace scowled at them.

"I don't know, you tell me."

"Agghhh!" She screeched in frustration at his nonchalant attitude, "I just want to rip your face to shreds! I'll tell you what the fuck is wrong with you! You're a goddamn prick who thinks he is so much better than everyone else in the fucking world so you belittle everyone around you and assume things that couldn't possibly true. You're an insensitive, unsympathetic, know it all, son of a bitch who is completely incapable of loving anyone or anything! And to be Frank, the cold, empty, loneliness in your eyes is of your own doing! Yeah, I fucking see it! The only reason you're alone and empty is because you push people away! I didn't do anything to you and you-you," Tenten paused, breathing hard as tears poured down her face. Neji waited calmly, stiff as a board, for her to continue. When she spoke again, her voice was that scary calm again, "I don't drink because-Never mind. Let's just go home." She turned around and began to walk away.

Neji followed after her, ignoring the hateful glares of the people who had been watching. When they reached the edge of the Barn, Neji pulled Tenten into the shadows, pushing her gently against the wall. He was surprised she hadn't fought back. He put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. Her eyelashes had crystal tears embedded in them, her cheeks streaked with tear stains, and her perfect rose pink lips were pulled into a frown. Was it really that possible to look so beautiful after crying?

"Please tell me why," Neji said softly, still studying her face.

"B-because," fresh tears started falling but this time Neji's hand that wasn't occupying her chin came up and wiped the salty tears away which made her cry harder. "I d-don't want to end up-" She hiccupped, her voice throaty with sobs. "-like my father. H-he gets scary when he drinks. I hate drinking. H-hate it. Animvgenokay?" Neji knit his eyebrows together in confusion.

"I didn't quite catch that last part," He murmured.

"I'm a virgin, okay?" She whispered, dropping her gaze. A blush sprinkled her cheeks, making her even prettier. His eyes widened in shock.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Neji spoke, "Wow, I guess you really are Miss Chastity."

"Sh-shut up!"

* * *

The car ride home was more than awkward. After the little scene between him and Tenten, Neji offered to drive home. He couldn't exactly apologize. Neji had never uttered the word "Sorry" in any kind of sincere form in his life. Sarcastically, yes. Obligatory, yes. But never sincere. Nor had he ever wanted to. Until now.

The awkward was already plentiful before they accidently opened the door to find Sasuke and Sakura mid foreplay. Tenten had never wished to walk in on a shirtless Sakura and Sasuke. Especially not when Sasuke was on top of Sakura touching and licking her everywhere. She wanted to throw up just thinking about it. The two embarrassed teenagers sat in the backseat, a safe distance away from each other. Sasuke snoring and Sakura blushing.

Tenten was seated next to Neji who was driving. Even after all of the hurtful words he had mercilessly spewed out at her she had melted back at the Barn when he had gazed at her with _that_ look and wiped her tears away. Her belly churned with butterflies just thinking about it. She wasn't sure what to think about it though. She had just met the guy after all. She couldn't like him, right? Especially after what he said. But after that he was so sweet…

"Shit," Sakura cursed from the backseat.

"What?" Tenten looked back at her.

"The sun is about to rise and you know who gets up at the crack of dawn."

After two seconds of thought, Neji floored it.

* * *

**Not exactly the best way to end it, but oh well. Couple of things I would like to address.**

**1. I'm sorry if you're against the use of marijuana, I'm trying to make it not that important. But I had to make Tenten do something rebellious. I mean, she's a virgin, she doesn't drink, she doesn't do drugs so there you go.**

**2. I know the Sakura and Sasuke parts were short and choppy. But hey, this story isn't about them. They're just a side couple. AND OH MY GOD THE ANONYMOUS WHO WON'T SHUT UP ABOUT SAKURA AND SASUKE AND HOW MUCH YOU HATE THAT COUPLE. I appreciate that you enjoy my story but when you leave a review saying how much you hate SasuSaku, it doesn't do anything. I based this story on Nejiten and SasuSaku. If you don't like it, don't read this story. I happen to love that couple and if you don't, I don't care. I'm not taking them out of my story. Sakura and Sasuke are important to this story and I'm keeping them. I appreciate everyone's opinion but when you review every chapter saying "no sasusaku i hate sakura" It makes me angry.**

**3. I think I may have portrayed Sakura as much more of a slut than intended. Just to clear some things up: She isn't actually a huge slut, she's clean. No, she isn't a virgin. But she isn't a slut. Don't worry. xD**

**4. I know their relationships are moving kind of fast, but I need them to be. I have a million and one more ideas for this story that I was going to make into a sequel but I decided it's just going to be one big story. So, if you feel they need to slow down just tell me and suggestions are appreciated! C:**

**But yeah, I hope you enjoyed. REVIEEWWWWW.**


	6. 1:6

**I know it's been like two months and I'm sorry! You know the drill, exams, school, excuses, boyfriend, more excuses, laziness, blah blah blah. But I started writing this chapter like a month ago and just finished it today so sorry if it's a little choppy towards the middle. **

**And my writing will still be slow. I have another Nejiten story I want to write. And I'm dying to write a InoShikaTema story, but I can't think of a good plot. **

**Anyways, this chapter is kind of weird and made me feel awkward writing it but I hope you enjoy it anyway!**

* * *

**VI.**

It was dark except for the lone flicker of a dying candle. Tenten memorized the exact shade of white, every hardened drip of wax that made the candle look like it was crying. The candle was supported by a tarnished gold candleholder. Rosary beads pooled around the base lightly covered in melted wax. Next to it lay a small, white pocket bible. As far as she knew it had never been opened. She was the only person who got to visit this room, after all.

A clock ticked incessantly from somewhere behind her. She couldn't bring herself to look away from the only light to find the source of the merciless ticking. Her whole body was stiff and aching. Sweat dripped down her back and beaded her forehead. A lump formed in her throat as she fought back tears and tried not to scream. It felt like the already tiny space of the closet was getting even smaller, suffocating her.

Tenten heard two sets of footsteps come up the stairs. Hope welled up in her chest before dying when the footsteps disappeared after the opening and closing of a door. She was tempted to call for help, but the possibility that her father might hear her made her throat clench.

The clock ticked on, laughing at her.

It felt like hours before Tenten heard sound from outside again. Weary hope reared its head again. Her heart pounded, as the footsteps got closer. The candlelight seemed to intensify, the clock ticked faster and louder than before. A single whisper from behind the door in front of her.

"Hello?"

Tenten heard a scream. Only when her throat began to ache did she realize it was her.

* * *

"Listen, boys," Yagiri said conversationally, but with a glare that could melt steel, "Me and my girls-"

"My girls and I," Neji corrected under his breath.

"What was that?" The older man growled, his dull eyes flashing. Sakura grasped her father's arm, but said nothing.

"Nothing, sir," Neji surreptitiously ground his heel into Sasuke's foot to keep him from snickering. "I said nothing."

"That's what I thought," Shaking off Sakura's hand, he continued, "Me and my girls," Neji fought the urge to roll his eyes, "are going out to eat as a family tonight."

The two teenage boys standing on the front porch couldn't help noticing that the family standing on the ground below them wasn't exactly complete. In fact, they hadn't seen or heard Tenten all day. It was like she never existed.

Neji tugged on his white undershirt, wishing he had worn more than it and gym shorts. Curling his bare toes against the flaky wood of the porch, he noticed it was a little too cold for a night in June.

He glanced at Sasuke through the corner of his eye and saw that Sasuke obviously wasn't feeling the same way. Actually, now that he thought about it, everyone was in sparse clothing and seemed to be content with the weather. Yagiri even had unflattering pit stains that looked yellow under the soft glow of the porch light.

Neji glared hatefully at the middle-aged creep as he droned on about rules and staying home alone. Neji wasn't really listening. All he could think about was that morning.

After that less than fun outing, the four arrived home to the worse sight they could imagine. Neji had been tempted to just turn around and keep driving until the truck ran out of gas or he passed out. Before either could happen Yagiri was at the passenger door, pulling it open so hard Neji was surprised he didn't rip it right off the hinges, and yanking Tenten out by the hair.

Goosebumps rose on his arms as he remembered Tenten's screams, Sakura calling after her desperately and his own fear that had frozen him in place. Neji had just watched helplessly with his hands clenching the steering wheel, as Tenten was literally drug by her hair into the house. The image of Tenten struggling to stand, her knees banging against the stairs, blood trickling down her legs was imprinted into his mind. Her anguished screams and pleas of, "Daddy, please, I'm sorry!" echoed in his mind.

Neji gripped his gym shorts to keep himself from decking the jabbering man in the face. The man was going on and on as if he didn't have a care in the world, as if he didn't just drag his screaming daughter into the house and probably kill her. Okay, he probably didn't kill her or else Sakura would be calling 911 and throttling her father. But still. Neji was worried and pissed. And if this man did not shut the hell up, he was going to save him the trouble and shut him up with his fist.

"So, just don't go near the end of the hallway and we'll be okay, okay?" Yagiri warned with a smile that was not pleasant in the least. "And you better be in bed by the time we get back," He finished.

Neji and Sasuke nodded their heads obediently as Yagiri, Sakura and Yui, Sakura's mother, finally left.

The two boys stood there for a moment in awkward silence, neither wanting to make the first move.

Sasuke finally cleared his throat, "Can you cook?"

Neji narrowed his eyes at him without turning his head. "Do I look like your housewife?" He asked coolly, crossing his arms over his chest. The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched as if he was trying not to grin. He turned his head to study Neji.

"Maybe with a pink apron-"

Neji slammed the door on Sasuke before he could finish the sentence and made his way into the kitchen. Rummaging through the fridge and pantry, he managed to find relatively fresh bread, half a jar of peanut butter and an unopened container of home made jam. Neji began assembling a classic PB&J and ignored the sounds of a scuffle outside. A raccoon was probably attacking Sasuke, none of Neji's concern.

Before taking his first bite the front door slammed open. With the sandwich halfway to his mouth, Neji watched as a furious Sasuke pulled a girl with flaming red hair, glasses askew on the bridge of her nose and a camera in her hands into the house and up the stairs. Shrugging, Neji bit into his sandwich.

* * *

"Who the _fuck_ are you?" Sasuke seethed, throwing the girl on his bed. She landed roughly, almost falling off the bed and making the bed slide back into the wall.

"No need to be rough with me, Sasuke," The girl cooed, fixing her glasses and hair, "Save that for later."

"Oh god," Sasuke groaned, running a hand over his face. He paced his room, scratching the back of his head as he thought. After Hyuga so rudely slammed the door on his face Sasuke had decided to enjoy some of the warm, summer air. Big mistake on his part. Not even five minutes into his alone time, a flashing light blinded him. Panicking, Sasuke lashed out and his hand hit a hard object. After regaining his sight, he found a girl fiddling with a broken camera on the ground in front of him. Sasuke looked at her again. She did look kind of familiar, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Arms snaked around his waist, pulling him close to her body and breaking him out of his reverie. He snapped, grabbing the stranger's upper arms, turning around. He shoved her into the wall, his flashing red eyes boring into hers. She cowered into the wall but couldn't turn her gaze away.

"I want answers and I want them now."

* * *

Neji stared down the hallway. The hallway that had seemed so long and alien yesterday now seemed short and familiar. It was hard to believe he had only been here two days. He turned towards his room before stopping. Yagiri's warnings of not going near the end of the hallway echoed in his head. Neji debated whether he should heed the warnings and retire to bed or do exactly the opposite.

The answer was obvious: go to bed.

But he was Neji Hyuga and Neji Hyuga takes orders from no one. With that state of mind, Neji marched down the hallway. There were 7 doors, Neji gathered as he walked. Four were bedrooms, two were bathrooms and there was one mystery one at the very end. It was also the only one with the doorknob still attached.

Neji stopped in front of the mystery door and pressed his ear against it. From inside he could hear the faint ticking of a clock and heavy breathing that almost passed as hyperventilating. Chills ran up Neji's arms, raising goose bumps as it went. He almost choked on his whisper, "Hello?"

The scream that responded made Neji's heart skip a beat and clench painfully. It sounded lost and scared. He gripped the doorknob and tried to open it, jiggling it repeatedly until he realized it was locked. He ran his hands on the top ledge of the door collecting dust on his fingertips. Finally his fingers made contact with something cool and hard. The skeleton key was heavy and cold in his palm.

Neji fumbled as he inserted the key into the lock. Twisting it, he heard a satisfactory _click_. He swung the door open and froze at the sight in front of him.

Tenten sat in a wooden chair, her back stiff. The wounds on her knees were beginning to scab over and had signs of infection. The dried blood on her shins looked black in the orange glow of the candle. Her eyes were wide and fixed on the flame of the candle but stared right through it. Her mouth was slightly open. She was gone. Neji had never seen someone so out of it in his entire life. He didn't even think he was this gone when he popped pills. The strong girl made of steel Neji saw last was nowhere to be seen. She had obviously ran and hid in the shadows of the dark closet.

Finally getting over the initial shock of seeing Tenten like she was, Neji took a hesitant step forward. Tenten slowly turned her head towards him. Though her eyes were on him, she wasn't really seeing him. Neji couldn't even imagine what she was seeing.

Frankly, he wasn't sure what he should do. Sakura would probably know what to do, but she had left already. Sasuke was preoccupied with a stalker, not that he would know what to do anyway. Neji had never been a very caring, social or helpful person and he had never had to deal with people who were genuinely gone. Yes, he'd dealt with numerous hammered and/or stoned acquaintances. But never had he come across something like this. In situations like these, Neji would have thought that the girl would jump into his arms wailing about how horrible it was.

He almost laughed. This was _Tenten_ he was dealing with. Not just some girl. Completely different.

_First of all,_ Neji thought to himself_, I should get her out of here_.

Neji took another tentative step forward, as if approaching a wounded puppy. He placed a hand on her shoulder, testing the waters. Satisfied with her lack of response, he slid an arm around her waist and stuck the other under her knees. Picking her up bridal style, still expecting kicking and screaming-which he got none of-he kicked the door closed behind him and crossed the short hall to his bedroom in a matter of seconds.

* * *

Sasuke was in the midst of one of his rampages that had yet to be cured by the fresh air of the farm. This was the first time he was actually aware of it, though. Normally, he would black out and the next day everyone would tiptoe around him like he was the boogey man or something.

It was strange, being this angry. He could feel the white hot rage burning through his veins along with enough adrenaline to get you high. Sasuke felt like he could break the cowering girl in front of him in half with his pinkie. He wasn't sure if he was foaming at the mouth or not, but he was positive he was bearing his teeth at her like a wild beast.

He forced himself to speak again, "Who. Are. You," He demanded, slamming his fist again the wall beside her head.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" She covered her face with her hands as if to hide from him, "Just please don't hurt me!"

Raging Sasuke smirked in sick satisfaction while the real cool, calm and collected Sasuke was reeling. Sasuke had no intention of hurting the girl; he was just pissed as hell, as hungry as a child in Africa and horny as a hopelessly single, divorced, balding man.

"My name is Karin!" She squeaked, trying to find a way around the enraged man in front of her. She slipped under his arms and danced across the room, putting a good bit of distance between them. "And I love you!"

Sasuke blinked and watched tears gather in her eyes. Noticing that his eyes were onyx black again, she took a chance and moved to sit on his bed.

"Most say I'm your number one fan," She bragged, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She recovers fast from ultimate terror, Sasuke thought, frowning. "I'm actually the only president in the Sasuke Uchiha fan club to ever actually make physical contact with you. And I'm the only member to ever _kiss_ you!"

"Congratulations," He deadpanned. "Did you win an award? Because, really, you deserve one." Sasuke leaned against the wall of his temporary bedroom and slid down to the floor, bending his knees and letting his head drop against the wall so he could stare up at the ceiling.

"Actually, I did," She gushed, getting up from the bed to sit in front of him. He slowly dropped his head down to look at her. The girl wasn't totally ugly. She had sunset-red eyes with long eyelashes and naturally red blush that highlighted her cheeks. Sasuke just stared at her while she named the numerous awards she received for her achievements. "Not that the awards really mattered. The best satisfaction was seeing that bitch, Ami-"

"Oi," Sasuke interrupted her mid-sentence.

"Yes, Sasuke?" She fluttered her eyelashes and leaned forward.

"…Can you cook?"

* * *

The silence in Neji's room would normally be quite comforting seeing as he never got it. Back at the Hyuga compound, his bedroom was right next to Hanabi's. Obviously, he never got any peace and quiet. But now the silence was suffocating and tense. It felt like they had been sitting side by side on his bed for an hour. Neji glanced at his clock and realized it had only been two minutes.

Neji turned to Tenten and swiftly studied her condition. "Tenten," He addressed her for the first time and got no reaction. She didn't acknowledge his existence at all. She just stared at the wall in front of her as if she could see straight through it. Neji was just thankful she wasn't crying.

First on the agenda was dressing her wounds before they got really infected. "Can you walk?" Neji stood in front of her, looking down at her slumped figure. He sighed and reached for her but stopped when he noticed something change in her eyes. It all happened in a split second; she shot up to her feet fast then her knees buckled under her as fast as she stood. It was like she was conscious for just a split second then lapsed into her dazed state again as she fell into Neji's arms. "Oh, God," Neji groaned, putting her arm around his shoulders and lifting her into his arms again.

In the hallway, Neji paused and threw a quick glance at Sasuke's closed door and heard muffled conversation. He debated whether he should check and see if Sasuke had killed the girl yet or just let him be.

He chose the latter and quickly moved into the bathroom adjacent to his bedroom. After closing the door behind him, he set the barely conscious girl on the counter next to the sink. She slumped lifelessly against the mirror, her mouth slightly open. It was kind of like she was sleeping with her eyes open.

Neji bent down and opened the cabinet doors. He shuffled through endless amounts of toiletries. Some obviously belonged to the women of the house that he chose to ignore and tried his hardest not to touch.

"Where the hell is the first aid kit?" He mumbled to himself, digging even deeper. He reached his arm farther into the cabinet, his fingers searching blindly. Finally, his fingertips skimmed something smooth and plastic and he grabbed it. "Got it."

He stood again, set the kit next to Tenten and went straight to work. Neji grabbed the disinfectant first and crouched down in front of her. "This is going to sting a little," He told her, even though he was well aware she wasn't paying the slightest attention. Neji felt kind of stupid. It was like he was talking and treating a dead person. She looked dead. And as much as Neji's macho side denied it, he had to admit that it scared him a little. _She_ scared him. Not the oh-god-she's-going-to-kill-me kind of scared. Neji couldn't really understand what was so terrifying about the non-responding girl sitting in front of him. There was just something a bit too unnerving about her.

He would meditate on it later; right now he needed to actually be taking care of her instead of staring at her wounds like a moron.

Her leg twitched almost imperceptibly as Neji dabbed the angry red scar. _How cute_, Neji thought to himself.

Tenten's legs were smooth under his touch and he almost slapped himself for enjoying this a little _too_ much. Sighing, Neji finished dressing her wounds and searched her for any more physical damage. He was well aware of the amount of emotional damage, but he couldn't do anything about that. At least not while she was in her current comatose state.

"Well, now you need to bathe," he told her and almost slapped himself _again_. How could she bathe herself if she couldn't even stand up on her own? Oh, that's right, she _couldn't._

Suddenly, Neji felt extremely uncomfortable. He couldn't just dump her on her bed in the same clothes she'd been wearing and sweating in for a day, completely dirty, could he? No, he couldn't. He also couldn't strip her down, wash her and put her in new clothes all by himself. That would be like taking advantage of her. That would make him like Tenten's adoptive father.

No, not quite that bad. But still wrong. Neji was a Hyuga. He had more dignity than that and had more respect for the female-

Oh, who was he kidding? It's just him and a girl who probably wouldn't even remember a thing in the morning. And if she woke up all clean and in different clothes she would probably thank Sakura in the morning and go on with her day. No harm done. "Okay, let's do this," Neji took a deep breath and reached for the hem of Tenten's shirt.

* * *

Sasuke twitched in barely contained annoyance as Karin pranced around the kitchen in Sakura's mint green checked apron.

_Maybe asking her to cook for him wasn't such a great idea_. The red-headed stalker gathered numerous ingredients that seemed to have no business being on the same table together and dumped them on the counter.

"Watch closely, Papa Bear," Sasuke resisted the urge to hurl a jar of peanut butter that Neji left on the table at her head, "You are going to witness a _real_ housewife in training and not some poser with obviously fake pink hair," She snarled, her grip tightening on a butcher knife that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.

Sasuke felt the need to correct her and inform her that she was actually the poser, but the grip she held on the butcher knife made him hesitate.

"Anyways," Karin's mood switched faster than Sasuke could count to three, "I'm going to make you Karin's Special Love me Love you Honey Honey Special Delight!" She giggled at her own cleverness and started chopping away.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. No way in hell was he going to eat some Special Love me you honey delightful bullshit.

"Can't you just make me a sandwich or something?" Sasuke asked when the deranged girl threw a whole, raw egg into a bowl of some kind of pink jelly.

In a flash she was in front of him, the ever-present butcher knife at his chin. "No, I can't _just make you a sandwich_," She ground out, looking at him over her brown glasses. Sasuke's frown deepened at her flippant attitude towards him.

The next thing Karin knew, Sasuke was twisting her arm behind her back and had her in a neck lock. She yelped in pain and dropped the knife. It barely missed Sasuke's bare foot.

"I don't think you realize who you're dealing with," He whispered conversationally into her ear, "I know ten different ways to kill you with my pinkie toe. I have a very short fuse. I don't like you. And you're getting on my last nerve. Now make me a sandwich or I'll take that butcher knife you seem to love so much and I'll slice you to ribbons," He told her as if it was an everyday conversation.

"Yes sir," She squeaked obediently.

_Much better,_ he smirked and released her.

After much waiting and exasperation on Sasuke's part, Karin finally put an edible BLT sandwich in front of Sasuke and another across from him. "There you go, sweetie," She fluttered her eyelashes, obviously recovered from their previous disagreement. She sat across from him and smiled broadly. "Oh, this looks so good. I'm so proud of myself!"

Before Sasuke could even reach for his sandwich Hyuga flew into the room, snatching both plates up and was already retreating. "Thanks for the sandwiches, Sasuke's stalker."

"You're welcome!" She called cheerfully. "Oh, wait…"

Sasuke wanted to scream, hit something, go to sleep but most importantly, _eat_. He dropped his head on the table and resisted the urge to burst into tears. "I just want food in my stomach," His voice was muffled by the table cloth, "Is that too much to ask for?"

Apparently.

* * *

Neji would have patted himself on the back if his hands weren't occupied with two plates. Originally, he was going to make a sandwich for Tenten while the bathtub was filling up. She hadn't eaten in an entire day, so she had to be starving.

But when he heard voices coming from the kitchen and discovered luck was on his side. Sasuke had a girl cook for him and it was just sitting there waiting for Neji to take it. The sandwiches were practically begging the white-eyed Hyuga to snatch them from the evil Uchiha's grasp. Which he so happily did.

The only thing that disturbed Neji was Sasuke's lack of response. Not even a shout of "You bastard!" Nothing.

Neji dismissed any thoughts of the navy haired ticking bomb and closed the bathroom door behind him after setting the sandwiches on the sink.

"Hungry?" Neji asked Tenten who was still as talkative as ever. "I'm sure you are," He was slightly uncomfortable with _how_ comfortable he was talking to himself now. He comforted himself with the fact that it was like talking to a dog. Relatively normal, but still rather embarrassing if caught doing it.

Tenten was now on the floor leaning against the sink cabinet, half naked. Neji was startled with how well endowed she was. Even when he saw her naked silhouette it was too dark to tell. But it didn't bother him too much. She still had her bra and underwear on. It was like a bikini. And he was all too familiar with the woman's naked body. Just because Tenten had an above average body, didn't mean shit, did it? He just had to pretend it was his cousin or something. Anything to escape the fact that he was bathing an emotionally traumatized girl that had absolutely no relation to him at all which meant he could take advantage of her anytime. He had to think about anything but that.

Neji sat next to her on the floor and held the sandwich up to her mouth. "Eat," He commanded. He sighed in frustration at her glazed eyes. "Fine, we'll bathe you first," Neji wasn't quite sure who _we_ was. He pushed the plate aside and grabbed her shoulders. No hesitating, just do it. If he hesitated he knew he would back down.

His fingers skimmed up her back and his skilled fingers unhooked her black bra with a fluidity that screamed experience. The straps fell down her arms and unveiled her upper torso. He ignored it much to his raging hormones and ripped the bra off completely, throwing it on top of her pile of clothes. His fingers hooked on the side of her boy shorts, Neji's favorite, and pulled them down smoothly and added them to the pile. She was completely naked.

Before Neji could really think about it or let it affect him, he picked her up and dumped her unceremoniously into the bathtub and shut the faucet off.

He placed a hand on his white bandana-covered forehead and took a deep breath. "It's now or never."

He mustered every ounce of self-control in his body, sat on the floor in front of the bathtub and tore a piece of the sandwich off. He opened her mouth and placed it on her pink tongue and closed her mouth. He waited a moment and she finally began chewing, her jaw moving mechanically. That was a step.

Neji positioned Tenten so that her back was facing him and her legs were up to her chest and grabbed the shampoo. After drenching her hair, he began methodically running the shampoo through her hair and massaging her scalp. He rinsed and repeated with the conditioner. After her hair was through, he sat up on his knees and put her in a more comfortable position. Now comes the really awkward part. His eyes quickly skimmed her frame and he guiltily looked away. _Get a grip, Neji_, he chastised himself as he soaped up a light purple washcloth. He pushed her into a sitting position and started at her shoulders. He went slowly, not wanting to suddenly startle her though he doubted that would actually happen. He trailed down her arms that hung by her sides limply and ran each of her long, elegant fingers through the soap. As Neji went back up to her collarbone, he realized he was being awfully gentle, like he was bathing a newborn. He used to bathe Hanabi as punishment when she was little, but this was new territory. He wasn't bathing his baby cousin. He was bathing a teenager who was practically a woman. She had the body of a freaking angel and she was letting him do anything he wanted to her. Not that she really had any say or awareness in her or his actions.

Normally Neji would be taking full advantage of the situation but he didn't really have any urge to do so. Well, of course he had the hormonal urge, but not the let's-fuck-this-bitch-and-go kind of urge. His hands were doing nothing but washing her with great care. Terrifying realization number two.

Neji furrowed his brow, barely skimmed over her chest, let her lay against the back of the tub again and rubbed circles on her belly. He dipped into her belly button and half-grinned as her stomach muscles twitched.

The only sound in the room was the occasional dip in the water and Neji and Tenten's quiet breathing. There was no sound coming from Sasuke's room or the kitchen. It was a night that would most likely be burned into Neji's memory forever. Especially what happened in the next few moments.

* * *

Sasuke had to piss. His bladder felt like it was going to explode. Strange, considering he hadn't consumed anything but annoyance since lunchtime. He had been happily sleeping on the kitchen table after ordering his stalker to clean the kitchen and leave. It took some persuading, okay, threatening to get her to leave, but she did. And he had been in the middle of a very nice dream-he wasn't too positive of its contents except pink hair and lots of biting-when he was rudely awakened with a raging hard-on and the need to pee like never before.

"Shit," Sasuke cursed under his breath and darted up the stairs. "Please don't be occupied, please don't be occupied, please don't-" Sasuke barged into the bathroom without knocking and immediately regretted it.

It was obviously occupied. He wasn't sure if he wanted to burst out laughing, say something witty, glue his mouth shut until the perfect blackmailing opportunity or if he was too stunned to do anything. Of course the only thing that tumbled out of his mouth was, "Holy shit."

Neji pried Tenten away from him long enough to scream at Sasuke, "Get the fuck out!"

Sasuke was too stunned to protest. He stumbled out of the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. He stared at the hallway wall, leaning against the door and took a shaky breath. Then promptly dissolved into laughter. It was extremely out of his character but he couldn't help him self. "Hahahholy shit," Sasuke choked out in the midst of his laughter.

Sasuke disappeared downstairs to find an empty bathroom still laughing and shaking his head.

* * *

Neji wasn't quite sure how it happened. Well, he basically knew. But he didn't really know why. His hands skimmed down her hips and legs and washed every part of her but her most private part. He wasn't going to just skip it. He was a dedicated worker and when he set his mind to something he did it 100 percent.

He clenched his teeth and dipped his hand between her legs. Neji didn't know if it was his imagination that made her hips slightly move closer to his hand and her breathing slightly quicken or if it was really happening. He looked up and noticed no change except for her chest moving up and down much quicker.

Letting his slightly perverted side take over, he watched her face and sped up his hand movements, adding his thumb in for good measure. The breathy moan that spilled from her slightly parted lips was definitely not conjured up by his imagination. Her eyes rapidly flickered and they finally connected with something or they seemed like they were trying to. Neji was completely lost in their unsteady eye connection and the sounds she was making. Any grain of dignity and respect he had left flew out the window.

All of his self-control was crushed under the pressure of their lips together. When it happened, Neji still wasn't completely sure. She had reached out, grabbed his white undershirt and pulled him towards her, their lips like magnets. How was Neji supposed to say no to that? He wasn't. Her arms snaked around his back and pulled him into the tub with her completely. It was a small tub, barely big enough for Tenten alone. Neji's weight settled on top of her, in between her legs and she didn't seem to mind one bit.

Even as their lips made love ravenously, he was still confused beyond belief. Was this even Tenten? Weren't they just dubbing her Miss Chastity? But here she was, naked, pulling Neji into the tub with her and doing the Tango with their tongues. But Neji didn't dwell on _why_ so much at that moment. It was like a fire consumed him. He had never kissed someone with so much passion, so much fervor in his entire life. Of all the women he had been with, they had never made him feel like this. And they were just kissing. Imaging anything beyond kissing with Tenten sent a pleasant shiver down Neji's now soaked back.

Neji groaned as Tenten pushed her body closer to his and wrapped her legs around his waist. He was touching her everywhere he couldn't dwell on previously. Everything was going so fast and the room felt like a sauna. Had the water been this hot when he filled the tub up?

"Holy shit," Neji quickly halted his and Tenten's face sucking and whipped around. Sasuke was standing at the bathroom entrance, one hand on the doorknob and staring at them with his mouth hanging open. _Fuck_, Neji cursed to himself. No telling what Uchiha would do with this piece of knowledge.

"Get the fuck out!" Neji shouted at him, not knowing what else to say. _"Oh, hey, could you mind coming back later? Yeah, I'm busy taking advantage of this girl. I'm sure you understand."_ Neji didn't think that would work out too well.

He was a little surprised when Sasuke almost immediately backed out of the room, firmly shutting it behind him. Neji scowled as Sasuke's laughter floated into the bathroom.

Neji almost lost his balance when Tenten began kissing down his neck and paused to suck at one particularly sensitive spot on his neck. "Oh, god," He groaned, gripping the edges of the bathtub. He grabbed her shoulders the stop her and forced her to look at him, but her head simply lolled to the side as she lapsed into comatose again. "Are you serious?" Neji asked nobody in particular. "This girl is going to be the death of me."

Neji laid in his bed later that night, in a dry pair of gym shorts and no shirt. One hand rested on his stomach, tracing a circle around his belly button, and the other hand rested on his forehead. He had kicked his sheets to the end of the bed because of the too hot weather.

The events of that night raced through his head. After that exciting surprise Neji dried Tenten, put her in new clothes, dumped her in her bed, washed her clubbing clothes, dried them _and_ put them up for her, he collapsed into bed with a massive headache. He felt like Tenten was his child who took advantage of _him_. Neji didn't even get to finish his sandwich. So, now he was starving, exhausted and horny as hell all because of one girl.

* * *

As soon as her father parked the truck, Sakura leaped out of it and raced to the door. She threw it open and looked around. It was eerily quiet. She stepped into the kitchen and switched on the light. Her eyebrows rose in shock. The kitchen was practically sparkling clean and none other than Sasuke Uchiha was sleeping with his head on the table. She snickered at the drool dribbling out of his mouth and onto his arm.

Sakura crossed the room and placed a Styrofoam container of still-warm leftovers on the table in front of him and poked his cheek.

She almost squealed at his I-just-woke-up face. He blinked, sitting up, and wiped the drool off his chin. He looked at her with half-lidded eyes and grinned lazily. "Sakura, welcome home."

The boy was obviously still half-asleep. In the short time Sakura had gotten to know him, she knew he would have shaved his eyebrows off before saying something like that. She grinned back and opened the container of leftovers. "Dig in," She giggled, ruffling his unruly bed head.

"Thank you, god," The drool made a comeback as he stared at the food in front of him before digging in ravenously.

"Saku," Yagiri's rough voice made Sasuke awaken fully, now ten times grumpier than normal, "Go check on your sister."

"Yes sir," She bowed her head and scurried upstairs. All night Sakura had been thinking about two things: Tenten and having sex with Sasuke. Of course, as soon as the latter crossed her mind she would reprimand herself for thinking such vulgar things when her sister was in her current predicament.

Sakura noticed the door at the end of the wall was standing wide open. She raced to it. The candle was almost completely gone, but still flickering and the chair was empty. _What the hell…?_ Sakura blew out the candle and closed the door behind her and locked it.

Peering into Tenten's room, she grinned widely and breathed a sigh of relief. Her sister was curled into a ball on her bed, her damp hair fanned out across the pillow and sleeping soundly. She was obviously cleaned, had a new change of clothes and had a strange healthy glow. And she was smiling in her sleep. Tenten sleeping was never a pretty sight. It usually involved heavy snoring and lots of drooling. But it looked like she had just gotten laid for the first time. Or like she was in love.

Sakura's eyes widened and a hand flew to her mouth. She had obviously been bathed and changed. And from personal experience, Sakura knew that after a day in solitary confinement Tenten was like a zombie. She couldn't do anything until she had at least twelve hours of sleep. That meant one thing. Neji and or Sasuke had seen her naked and changed her and touched hair. And judging by the smiley glowing ball that was Tenten, something _good_ had happened. And it had better be Neji or Sasuke was getting a beating, Sakura style.

The pinkette backed out of the room, closing the door with a soft _click_ and barged into Neji's room unannounced.

"You," She snarled. A groan came from the teenage boy sprawled out on the bed in the middle of the room. Sakura flipped on the lights and he moved his arm from his forehead over his eyes.

"Go away," He moaned.

Sakura stalked over to his bed, "What did you do?"

"I saved Tenten's life, now fuck off," Neji pushed her away and rolled onto his stomach.

"Why is she smiling and glowing in her sleep like a love sick puppy and not snoring and drooling like Tenten is supposed to then, huh?" Sakura interrogated, trying to make her self look menacing. She was just glad he was lying down instead of towering over her like he normally would.

"Maybe she's in love with me," Neji mumbled into the pillow facetiously.

"This isn't time for your stupid jokes!" Sakura flipped him over and held his shoulders down. He blinked up at her.

"I'm not joking," He deadpanned, "She attacked me when I was trying to get her cleaned up."

"What do you mean, she attacked you?"

"Just that. She pulled me into the tub with her and stared sucking my face off," Sakura narrowed her eyes at his oh so eloquent wording.

"Impossible," Sakura said with finality."

"Oh?" Neji brushed her hands away and sat up, leaning against the headboard. "Check this out," He pulled his hair back and tilted his head to the right. Angry purple-red marks were trailed down his neck.

"What?" Sakura screeched, "Tenten has never received or given a hickey in her life! If it weren't for me she wouldn't even know what they are!"

"Well, she's given one, more than one now," At the look the younger sister gave him he said, "And no, she still hasn't received one. I'm telling you, _she_ attacked _me._"

"Well, why didn't you stop her?" Neji simply raised one perfect eyebrow at her in amusement. "Boys!" Sakura threw her hands up in exasperation and turned to leave. "Oh, and I'm assuming you're hungry. We have warm leftovers down stairs." Neji raced past her so fast, cotton candy pink strands of hair danced across her face.

"Boys," Sakura said again to herself, rolling her eyes.

* * *

**This completely turned into something different than what I originally planned. The Karin bit and anything beyond the bathtub scene was not at all what I originally planned. But I like it better. As awkward as it is, it was much more interesting. I hope you guys liked it.**

**Also, I'd just like to say, I think I like writing in Sasuke's POV the most. I love Sasuke. A lot of people hate him and what he's turning into. But I think it just makes everything interesting. He's one of the most interesting characters. And YES his one track, GOTTA KILL MY BROTHER mind was annoying but the whole brother-revenge-regret thing was great. Sasuke is so unfffff too. He's one of my favorite characters and hey! He killed Karin and Danzo. In one day. Gotta love him.**

**and this is the most I've EVER written. Almost 7,000 words and 12 pages on word. OH MY GODDHUISDFHSDJGNKFG. I'm pretty proud of myself. And I was going to write more in this chapter but I just felt like so much already happened in the chapter and it was all one night which is just ridiculous. But I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can.**

**I hope this made up for the month long wait. :D**


	7. 1:7

**I know! It's been a while since I've updated and this chapter is really short and I have no excuses. Just pure laziness and the lack of wanting to write or inspiration. I also started another story called you are my sunshine, my only sunshine. It's a Minato x Kushina story, so if you're into that check it out! **

**ALSO: I have this story for a Kankuro x Tenten story and I have so many ideas for it, it's driving me crazy. It'll be a roller derby story based off of the movie Whip It! I was going to make it Neji x Tenten but I figured that would be insanely hard to put Neji into the kind of character I need, so I decided to make it Anti-Nejiten and make him a sort of antagonist, hahaha. It'll be hard for me to do, but I'm just wondering if anybody thinks it's a good idea? PLEASE let me know. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**VII.**

"Goooood morning, lovely family!"

Neji, startled by the sudden noise, looked up from his plate, which he had been previously death staring as if it was the source of his misery and bad luck. A girl that looked distinctly like the girl he had bathed the previous night came dancing into the kitchen, all twirls and smiles. Yes, it looked very much like Tenten, but Neji knew it couldn't be her. The Tenten he knew did not dance, smile and claim to have a lovely family. Because she didn't. And she was well aware that she didn't.

The Tenten look alike skipped to Sakura's side, planted a kiss on her cheek then did the same to Sakura's mother. After taking a seat next to Neji and whispering a special good morning to him, she loaded her plate with pancakes, and drowned them in syrup, sugar and strawberries.

If at all possible, the room seemed to be even more silent than it had before. Everyone in the room was staring at the Tenten imposter with perplexed looks.

Sakura broke the silence, "Who are you and what have you done with Tenten?"

The brunette simply laughed and wove her fork around dismissively. "Oh, you're so silly, Sak!"

The table grew quiet again, but only for a moment. "Where is my kiss?" Their father questioned, fixing her with a hard look.

"Oh, daddy! I guess funny is a gene you were blessed with too!" Tenten giggled and shoved a large helping of fluffy, buttery goodness into her mouth.

Neji would have snorted at her comment and the look on Yagiri's face if he was stupid, but instead he also took a large bite of his breakfast to keep himself from laughing.

The table lapsed into silence again, this time an unbearably awkward one.

Neji was actually quite surprised at Yagiri's lack of reaction. Not a threat or punch thrown. Not even a stern glare at his adoptive daughter. Neji supposed that he wasn't sure _how_ to respond. The too happy girl and her passive-aggressive rejection surely were hard to dissect. How does one discipline such an attitude?

The thumping of footsteps could be heard from the stairwell. The only people that acknowledged Sasuke's late entrance were the women in the family. "Good morning, Sasuke," They chimed.

The Uchiha didn't so much as make eye contact with any of them. He simply flopped down in the chair next to Sakura and bore holes into his empty plate. Everyone in the room had come to terms with the fact that Sasuke was not actually awake until he had food in his mouth. They were quite impressed that he had managed to shower and dress himself. The evidence of his shower was dripping from his wet locks and leaving dark spots on his light gray t-shirt.

Sakura wordlessly filled his plate with as much food as it could hold and placed a fork and knife into his hands that were resting on the table.

"So, what's on the agenda for today, Papa?" Tenten asked, stacking her empty plate with Neji's.

Said Papa cleared his throat and put down his fork with a clink, "Well, since the boys have gotten adjusted I'd say it's time to put them to work."

Neji almost groaned, but he just crossed his arms across his chest in a small sign of defiance that went thoroughly unnoticed. Sasuke, still shoveling food into his mouth, was either doing an excellent job of acting like the other occupants of the room didn't exist or he was not fully awake. Possibly both.

"Sasuke and Tenten will work in the sunflower fields and-" Sakura made a choking noise.

"Why does Tenten get to work with Sasuke?" The pinkette protested, slamming her small hands down on the table-clothed table.

"And Neji will work with Sakura in the apple orchard," He finished, ignoring his daughter's interruption.

"Sakura," Tenten smiled at her sweetly, standing up from her chair, "Walk with me, talk with me."

She grabbed her sister from her chair and dragged her out of the kitchen.

"Hey, I'm not done eating!" Sakura protested, giving a longing look to the abandoned meal that she was forcefully removed from.

"Don't care," Tenten's good mood was obviously wavering, "You need to go on a diet anyway."

"Wh-what!" Sakura shrieked, "You bi-" The rest of her scream was muffled by the slamming of the front door.

Sasuke, Tenten, Neji and Sakura stood in a row facing the front porch where Yagiri was towering over them with his hands on his hips.

Tenten was stretching her arms in preparation for a long day of manual labor while Sasuke and Neji both sported the "I don't care" countenance with a peppering of "I'm too good for this". Tenten was willing to bet they had never been forced to do a minute of manual labor in their whole cushy lives. Sakura simply stood with her hands clasped in front of her with an air of innocent angel emanating from her being. Tenten was glad she wasn't standing close enough to be attacked by the white, celestial air floating around her. Neji, however, was very tense.

Yagiri went on with his instructions and requirements for the day's work, blissfully ignorant to the fact that the four teenagers were only half listening.

Sasuke sighed and his gaze drifted to the window where Sakura's mother was standing, washing dishes. She looked up and met his gaze with a flirty smile and wiggled her soapy fingers at him. Not knowing what to do, he looked away hurriedly and hoped that nobody noticed the small exchange.

Sakura noticed. She frowned and narrowed her eyes at her mother who stuck her tongue out at her playfully before looking back down at the dishes.

"Can anyone tell me what I just said?" Yagiri huffed, finally getting the hint that nobody cared.

"I can!" Tenten chimed, her mood returning quickly for a reason that nobody could quite pick up, "You said 'Can anyone tell me what I just said?'"

"No, before that, you smartass," Yagiri growled.

Tenten recited his exact words with a deep impersonating voice. Sakura giggled into her hand while Neji smirked down at the girl who was now grinning and hopping up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Get to work," Yagiri commanded and slammed the door behind him without another word. This family has door-slamming problems, Sasuke concluded and sighed again.

Tenten turned to Sasuke and hooked his arm with his, "Let's get to work, Uchi!"

"Uchi?" Sasuke was obviously not pleased with this new little nickname Tenten had given him. "It's either Uchiha or Sasuke. Not _Uchi_."

"Chill out, Uchi," Tenten laughed and dragged him towards the sunflower field.

Sakura fumed silently beside Neji while Neji himself watched; perplexed by his own urge to rip _Uchi's_ head clean off his shoulders.

Sasuke watched the ever-cheerful girl who was his working partner for the day from his makeshift seat. When they began working Tenten handed him a wooden box, for collecting sunflower seeds he presumed. Instead of doing his assigned job, Sasuke had turned it over and used it as a seat.

Tenten hadn't said a word about his lack of help. She also ignored him flicking sunflower seeds at her, trying to get a reaction out of her. He had no such luck. The girl was completely on cloud nine, head in the clouds and all.

The brunette sang softly under her breath as she absently worked. Sasuke leaned forward from his slumped position and grabbed a handful of seeds from Tenten's box. He popped one into his mouth while he watched her intently. After not even a look in his direction when he spat the shell at her he frowned, dropped his handful of seeds in the box and stood behind Tenten.

She turned and looked at him. He only had two inches on her five foot three inches, but his obvious superiority complex gave him a taller air that made her feel tiny next to him. Neji was only an inch or two taller than Sasuke but they both had that over-bearing confidence.

"What's with you?" He asked gruffly, looking down his nose at her.

"Well, _you_'re with me," Tenten's face adopted a pensive look, "But I wouldn't classify you as a _what_ unless-"

"You know what I meant," Sasuke frowned, resisting the temptation to hit the girl. He was here for anger management rehabilitation and hitting girls would not help his record.

"Nope," She smiled and turned back to her job.

"Why are you acting all," Sasuke trailed off, trying to find the right word to describe the overly happy mood the brunette seemed to be in, "er, happy?"

"Because I am," She responded simply.

"_Why_?" He asked incredulously, getting in her face, "What could possibly make you that happy here?"

"Oh, I don't know," She grinned like a five year-old with a schoolgirl crush.

Sasuke stared at her until she turned to him. "Seriously, I don't know. I just woke up extremely happy this morning."

He thought for a moment. Last night he had a stalker, she made him dinner, cleaned the kitchen, he took a nap, then woke up and…

_Oh_.

"You're in love with Hyuga," The Uchiha sounded as if that was the answer to everything in the world.

Tenten barked out a startled laugh, dropping the sunflower seeds she had been studying. "Don't be ridiculous!"

"I don't know, you seemed to be pretty in love with him when you guys were doing the nasty in the bathtub," Sasuke bit his lip to keep from grinning.

"_What_?"

"Neji fucking Hyuga!"

Said teenager almost fell from the top of the ladder at the infuriated female screech. At first, he thought it was Sakura, but the startled look on her face told him otherwise.

"Tenten, shit," A male voice that sounded distinctly _Uchiha_ called after the female, "Wait! I was just kidding!"

Neji had a bad feeling about this.

A furious Tenten stormed through the orchard of apple trees and paused when she found two ladders. One meaningful look at Sakura and Tenten was at the bottom of Neji's ladder in a flash, shaking it violently. "Get the fuck down here so I can end your life!"

"If you keep shaking the ladder like that my life will end even sooner," Neji stated calmly, gripping the ladder tightly.

"Then get down here and explain," She growled, "Right. Now."

"Promise not to kill me?" He looked down at her cautiously.

"No."

"Then I'm not coming down," Neji made himself comfortable at the top of his ladder and looked down at the enraged girl in something that resembled amusement.

"Do you think this is funny, Hyuga?" She seethed, her hands balling into fists, "Do I look like a fucking comedian to you?"

"Maybe," He smirked, shrugging nonchalantly.

Sasuke and Sakura had mysteriously disappeared from sight.

"I'm going to kill you," She screamed, grabbing the ladder and jerking it to the side harshly. Neji jumped from it, landing neatly in front of the fuming Tenten. The ladder toppled to the ground with a loud crash.

Neji placed his hands on her shoulders, "Calm down and tell me why you're so angry."

"Don't touch me!" She shoved his hands away from her and stepped back, "And don't tell me to calm down! I am perfectly calm!"

"Then why are you still yelling?" He leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at her. This certainly was a monumental change from the previous night.

"Sasuke told me I'm in love with you," She paused to laugh haughtily, "And that we had sex in the bathtub last night. Explain before I rip that pretty little head of yours into shreds!"

Instead of doing the rational thing when dealing with a very furious woman and just explaining, Neji took the not so rational approach and silenced her screaming with a firm kiss.

"What was up with Tenten?" Sakura questioned once she and Sasuke wandered further into the orchard and the screaming faded slightly.

Sasuke merely shrugged and leaned against a nearby tree trunk. Sakura pouted at his silence, but took the moment to study his features as he stared up into the pieces of sky peeking through the foliage of the trees.

She leaned against a tree opposite of him, tilting her head and smiling lightly as she watched him. Her eyes trailed along his strong arms folded in front of him, his collarbone peeking out of his gray t-shirt, up his smooth neck where she could just imagine trailing soft kisses or sucking lightly on his pulse point. Sakura's gaze skimmed along his strong jaw and over his pale lips, which were pulled into a pensive frown as usual.

A light breeze caressed her exposed skin and sent locks of bubble gum pink dancing across her face. Raven strands brushed Sasuke's pale neck and tickled his cheeks.

Sakura held in a delighted giggle when Sasuke's perfect nose twitched in annoyance. Her tour of his countenance ended when sea green met obsidian. As their eyes locked, Sakura felt something. Something strange but at the same time it sent a giddy thrill zipping through her body. It was like the world stopped for the two of them. Tenten and Neji's screaming had ceased, the wind was still and there didn't seem to be a sound besides their barely audible breathing.

An alien warmth began to flower inside of Sakura's chest that made her slightly dizzy. It felt as if golden sunlight was rushing through her veins instead of crimson blood. Her heartbeat began to pick up into an erratic beat. She could feel blood rushing to her cheeks as Sasuke tilted his head curiously at her. It made her wonder if the golden sunlight was pouring out of her toes and fingers. She had never felt like this before in her life.

It scared her. She was ninety percent sure what this feeling was and she didn't want it.

But as Sasuke's eyes softened, she felt like whatever _this_ was, it was worth it. His normally harsh scowl was replaced with a look one would give a newborn baby or a lost puppy. It was a gentle, fragile look that made her want to wrap her arms around him and never let go. He somehow looked wounded and vulnerable, as if everything he had pent up was pouring out of that one expression. He stared at her as if calling for her to help him. He was probably not aware of what he was doing to her or else he would have walked away by now. Sakura knew enough about him to know that he didn't open up and he did not share moments like this with any living being.

Sakura had to hold herself back from brashly flinging herself at him. This small circle of peace they had incidentally created was as fragile as thin glass. One step and it would probably shatter the moment.

Sasuke seemed to be trembling, as if he wanted to move or look away or do anything to get out of the situation but there was an invisible anchor holding him down.

Sakura felt like she was going to explode if she didn't say something. She racked her muddled brain for anything to say but the whole thing she could think of, the only thing running through her mind at the moment would have been the dumbest think she could think of. It would probably completely screw up whatever relationship they had built so far.

"Sasuke, I-" The words were out of her mouth before she knew it and before she could even finish the statement, their invisible spell was broken and Sasuke was turning and walking away. "Sasuke, wait!"

She rushed after him and grabbed his arm to halt his advance. He turned around and met her desperate gaze with a glare so cold it replaced all of the warmth in her body with an aching, icy feeling. All she wanted at that moment was a large cup of hot chocolate and to curl up in her bed and sleep. No, that wasn't quite right. The dull, cold aching in her body yearned for the warmth that Sasuke had somehow filled her with just moments ago.

It seemed that her body had a mind of its own. Sakura's hands reached for Sasuke's neck, which tensed under the contact, and she felt him trying to pull away gently. The fact that he wasn't knocking her out and running was definitely an encouraging sign.

When her lips met his, the ice in her veins melted. Her whole body felt aglow. An impossible radiance engulfed them and pulled them closer together. For once in her life, she didn't want to have sex with the person she was kissing. Well, yes, she did, but not right now. Sex was the last thing on her mind. All she wanted was to be in Sasuke's arms and continue to bask in this invisible glow. Her father, her mother, her troubled adoptive sister, every supposed heartbreak and crush she had; it was all gone. Sasuke's lips on hers and his strong arms around her waist protected her from everything bad in the world. It was all she needed and all she wanted. It felt like she was feasting after wandering in a desert for days without food and water. This feeling was better than taking a hot bubble bath after a stressful, long day of working. She felt like she could fly – like she could take the whole world on.

Sasuke pulled back abruptly and the look in his eyes scared her, made her want to drop into a whole and die. No, he wasn't glaring at her, there was no hatred or malice or happiness or mutual love in his eyes. There was fear. Raw, total, utter _fear_. And confusion. He was terrified and bewildered at the new feelings. He wanted nothing more than to pull Sakura closer and cradle her and protect her from the world. He wanted to know every thought; every feeling that had ever come to her. He wanted to know her favorite color was, her favorite food. Every bad and good thing that had happened to her. He wanted – no – _needed_ Sakura in every shape and form that she came.

After realizing all of this through one kiss, petrified him. After their staring contest he felt something begin to change inside of him. Especially since he felt as though the girl across from him was the only thing that mattered in the world.

Sasuke, with great effort, unlatched as his hands from around her waist, pried her hands from his neck, took one step back from her and ran.

* * *

**Shorter than usual, I know. And it focused a lot on Sasuke and Sakura, much MUCH more than I intended. But I figured a scene like that needed to happen sooner or later to get a move on their relationship and let me focus more on Neji and Tenten. **

**Also, don't expect me to EVER put even a HINT of NejiSaku. I hate that couple almost as much as NaruSaku. Even if Sasuke and - okay nevermind I almost spoiled something. But trust me, there will be no romantic Neji and Sakura. Probably barely any friendship. They just don't mix well to me. **

**I hope you enjoyed, review if you'd like!**


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